Standard Life Investments' EM team ups exposure to 'fragile five'

Standard Life Investments' EM managers Alistair Way and Mark Vincent are looking to stocks in the ‘fragile five' countries to generate performance in their funds.

The pair – managers of the top-quartile £112m SLI GEM Equity and £293m GEM Equity Income funds – said strong companies in countries with current account deficits are a good way to access value in emerging markets. The sector has been rocked by the US Federal Reserve’s decision to taper bond purchases, with five countries in particular – Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and Turkey – performing very poorly as current account deficits leave them struggling to repay dollar-denominated debt. Way is investing in companies suffering a valuation penalty from being domiciled in one the ...