First State has overhauled the £142m Pacific Assets Trust it recently took over from F&C, selling all but five of the existing stocks.
Fund manager David Gait says he turned over 95% of the fund's 50 holdings in the first two weeks after taking control in July.
Gait is running Pacific Assets in a near identical way to his £139m Asia Pacific Sustainability unit trust, the only difference being the closed-ended vehicle cannot invest in Australia.
"We have quite a different style of investing to F&C and one of the things we wanted to do as soon as possible is get the fund into a shape where we could sleep easily at night," he says.
"The fund is now more aligned to the Asia Pacific team's investment style with little exposure to resources, cyclicals or state-owned companies, while the themes we are playing in the fund include gas and consumer staples."
The top ten stocks account for 40% of the portfolio, but only 5% of the benchmark, he adds.
Of the fund's top ten holdings, the only one to survive the transition is Thailand's Kasikornbank. Other names which now make it into the top ten include MTR Corp, Hong Kong & China Gas and Manila Water Company.
Although investment trust legislation allows for gearing, Gait says he is unlikely to incorporate this mechanism.
"First State's style is not particularly suited to aggressive gearing and I generally do not like the idea or borrowing money, but I am keeping an open mind," he says.
"We do not claim to have particular expertise in market timing, but if it got to a stage where stocks had particularly compelling or distressed valuations we may look to employ gearing."
In May, the board of the £142m Pacific Assets appointed First State to take over running Pacific Assets from F&C, citing he trust's disappointing investment performance in recent years as the reason for the manager change.
In the five years to 30 June 2010, it had returned 84.2%, compared to its peer group average of 115.7%.
