abrdn Latin American Equity

abrdn Latin American Equity fund gives investors exposure to companies in Latin America. It is managed by abrdn’s renowned emerging markets team, whose primary investment concern is whether companies demonstrate outstanding quality characteristics, such as strong management and balance sheets, this is followed by a value approach – targeting stocks which appear to trade for less than they should do. The strategy has had considerable success across the region.

Previously ASI Latin American Equity

Our opinion

The labour-intensive and cautious approach of this fund lends itself particularly well to these volatile and less-researched equity markets. This, combined with the strength and stability of the team, gives us confidence the abrdn Latin American Equity fund can continue to outperform over the long term.

Fund manager

The abrdn Latin American Equity fund is run on a day-to-day basis by abrdn's emerging markets team, with Eduardo Figueiredo as named manager. The team members have been sourced from a diversified pool of talent, with the intention that each analyst can bring a different perspective. The longevity and the stability of the team is a major factor behind the success of the franchise.

Eduardo Figueiredo is a director and head of Brazilian equities at abrdn. He focuses on the management of Latin American equities strategies as part of the global emerging markets equity team. Prior to joining the company in February 2011, Eduardo worked at Maua Sekular Investimentos (renamed Maua Capital), a Brazilian asset manager. After his initial years as a trainee on the operations, macroeconomic research and equities he became an equity analyst and portfolio manager. Eduardo has a BA in Business Administration from Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado - FAAP, São Paulo and is a CFA charterholder.

Our longstanding investment approach is founded on individual stock selection, detailed research, and face-to-face company contact.

Eduardo FigueiredoFund manager

Investment process

The process is 'Warren Buffet-esque', with the team looking to identify and build large positions in high quality companies that are trading at reasonable valuations. Consequently, the process is entirely based on fundamental research, with four to five company visits usually taking place before an investment is made. The average holding period for a company is more than five years and the team will look to add to positions during periods of market volatility.

ESG

ESG - Integrated  

It is the belief of the emerging investment team at abdrn, that the wider market systematically undervalues the importance of ESG factors when assessing stocks, and therefore they perform in-depth ESG analysis as part of their process across both an individual stock, and wider portfolio level. There are three considerations the team use in incorporating ESG; the financial materiality, through the impact on cash flows, asset values and therefore corporate performance; better insights, through understanding the risks and opportunities ESG factors offer and corporate advancement, where better understanding of a company’s issues allows for better engagement and long-term benefits. This work will affect the companies the fund will buy, and the valuations at which they will buy them. The large number of meetings the team conducts will also be supported by the ESG work, meaning the team can engage with management on ESG issues with first-hand knowledge of the firm’s profile.

Risk

As the fund invests in emerging markets, it is towards the top end of the risk scale. Its unconstrained approach means it can build up large country positions, which makes it more susceptible to political turmoil in the region. However, the emphasis on quality means that the fund can exhibit lower volatility than some of its peers.

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