Mirae Asset Korea Equity Fund awarded “AA” rating by Standard & Poor’s - Korea Equity Fund...

March 1, 2011 - PRLog -- Important:
   *Mirae Asset Korea Equity Fund (the “Fund”) mainly invests in equities and equity-related securities of companies domiciled in or exercising a large portion of their economic activity in Korea.
   *The Fund invests in emerging markets should be regarded as having higher political, regulatory, volatility, liquidity, economic and foreign currency risks than a fund which invests in developed markets.
   *The Fund invests in Korea should be regarded as having higher concentration risks than a fund following a more diversified policy
   *The investment decision is yours but you should not invest unless the intermediary which offers you the Fund has advised you that the Fund is suitable for you and has explained why, including how investment in the Fund will be consistent with your investment objectives.
   *Investors should not only base on this marketing material alone to make investment decisions.


Mirae Asset Global Investments Group (“Mirae Asset”), one of Asia’s leading asset-management companies², today announces that its Korea Equity Fund has been awarded ‘AA’ status by rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P).

The Mirae Asset Korea Equity Fund (the “Fund”) aims to achieve long-term capital growth by investing mainly in equities and equity-related securities of companies domiciled in or exercising a large portion of their economic activity in Korea. The Fund has been run by Sung Woo Kim on the back of a team approach. Mirae Asset Global Investments has a 15-strong Korean research team and an investment strategy committee (ISC) comprised of nine senior investment professionals, including Kim, with an average of 16 years' experience³.

The Fund is top-decile¹ and has generated a 94.3%⁴ return since its inception in July 2008. By comparison, its benchmark, the KOSPI index has returned 48.4%⁴ over the same period. It has USD 171.9 million dollars in assets under management.⁴

S&P explains the Fund’s upgrade, “Success has been founded on good security selection within the model portfolio but Kim has shown his ability to add value above that. The disciplined process and well-resourced and experienced team have produced a strong track record.”
The Fund’s portfolio contains mainly mid and large-cap growth stocks and currently has 29 holdings⁵. The investment approach is bottom-up, focusing on the sustainable competitiveness and attractive risk/reward ratios of companies, but recognises that top-down views can play an important role at times. The top three sector holdings are currently materials, information technology and industrials (as of Jan 2011). On a company basis, the Fund favours LG Chem, Samsung Electronics and Samsung Techwin¹.

Elliot Berman, Mirae Asset’s head of sales for EMEA comments: “We are delighted that the stellar performance and value of the fund has been officially recognised by S&P with this rating upgrade. The Fund has outperformed convincingly, despite consistently volatile markets, and Sung Woo Kim and his team have consistently delivered value to our investors.”

Commenting on the outlook for Korea, Sung Woo Kim, manager of the Mirae Asset Korea Equity said: “Recently, emerging markets and Korea have experienced a correction due to worries on inflation and temporary capital outflows from emerging markets. However, we believe that as time goes by investors will start to focus again on the underlying economy and solid growth of emerging markets. This will eventually lead to continuous growth of the Korean equity market. We also maintain our bullish view on the Korean equity market from a long term perspective due to our strong confidence on the increased competitiveness of Korean companies.”


About Mirae Asset Global Investments (Hong Kong) Limited

Mirae Asset Global Investments (Hong Kong) Limited is part of the Mirae Asset Global
Investments Group and is licensed with and regulated by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Group was the first to open up the mutual fund market in Korea in 1998. and has become one of Asia’s largest retail asset managers² with a strong focus on emerging markets. Globally, the diversified businesses of the Group’s asset management arms recorded over USD53 billion of assets under management as of November⁶.

The Mirae Asset Global Investments Group has investment management operations in Hong
Kong, Brazil, India, Korea, and USA. The Mirae Asset Global Investments Group includes one of the largest team of investment professionals globally with over 170 (as of October 2010) dedicated to asset management in Asia and other emerging markets.

Further information can be found at http://investments.miraeasset.com.hk


Notes to editors

¹ Standard & Poor’s Mirae Asset Korea Equity Fund report, January 2011

² 20 Retail Managers in Asia inc. Japan and India, ex-Australia - Fund Manager Survey, Asia Asset Management, September 2010

³ Mirae Asset Global Investments, as at 31 January 2011

⁴ FactSet, Bloomberg and Mirae Asset data as of 31 January 2011. All performance numbers are net of fees, in USD, and with dividends reinvested. Benchmark: KOSPI Index. The benchmark is a price return index that does not include reinvestment of dividends / income. The fund inception date was 22 July 2008 whilst Class I (USD) was launched on 2 September 2008.

⁵ Mirae Asset Global Investments, as at 18 February 2011

⁶ Mirae Asset Global Investments, as at 31 January 2011


For further enquiries:
Martyn Gilbey
+852 3555 5832
martyn.gilbey@miraeasset.com

Jasmine Yap
+852 2533 4641
jasmine.yap@citigate.com.hk

Kevin Xu
+852 2533 4642
kevin.xu@citigate.com.hk

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The Mirae Asset Financial Group provides a broad range of financial services, including asset management, securities, life insurance, capital, venture investment and real estate. The group employs over 11,000 people around the world.