Areca Capital Sdn Bhd (ArecaCap), a new licensed fund manager and an approved unit trust management company, has entered into an agreement with UOB-OSK Asset Management Sdn Bhd (UOB-OSK) to jointly manage its equity unit trust fund, Areca equityTRUST Fund. The joint force will enable ArecaCap to manage the broader asset allocation strategy while its partner UOB-OSK will be managing the equity portion of the Fund more specifically, in relation to stock picks and equity portfolio selection.

ArecaCap, an associate company of the main board insurance group, Jerneh Asia Bhd – a member of the Kuok Group, launched its three maiden funds 3 months ago which have received encouraging response. The three Funds, moneyTRUST, incomeTRUST and equityTRUST were offered to high-net-worth investors though a powerful investment tool – Versatile Investment Portfolio (VIP). VIP investors are equipped with many unique features in enabling them to plan, invest, review and rebalance their personal portfolio in according with their personal risk appetite and take advantage of the ever-changing market conditions. These features among others include pre-investment personal consultation, regular market report, monthly investment statement, unlimited free switches and timely updates and personal advice from trained Areca Personal Investment Managers. In line with the market and government call for lower fee, ArecaCap has levied the lowest entry fee of up to 3% only.

UOB-OSK Asset Management Sdn Bhd (”UOB-OSK”) is one of the foreign fund management companies in Malaysia which offers investment management expertise to unit trust funds as well as institutions, corporations and individuals through customized portfolio management services.

Incorporated in June 1991, UOB-OSK is a 70% subsidiary of UOB Asset Management Ltd, one of the largest unit trust managers in Singapore in terms of assets under management. The 30% joint venture partner of UOB-OSK is OSK Holdings Bhd, an established investment banking group listed on the Bursa Malaysia.

UOB-OSK commenced operations in Kuala Lumpur in March 1997 and it has the support and resource backing of an experienced team of investment professionals at its holding company, who have specialized skills in portfolio investments in both the Asian and global markets. Collectively, the funds under management as at 30 June 2006 are approximately RM1.3 billion. Its investment team has an average of more than 11 years experience in the industry covering all aspects of the fund management industry.

“UOB-OSK is chosen based on stringent selection criterias, among others the past performance and the stock selection skills, which are best fit into our investment management model. With the tie-up, ArecaCap will be able to focus its resources on other areas such as client services and monitoring investment opportunities for our clients,” said ArecaCap CEO and Executive Director, Danny Wong.

“Moving forward, we will continue to source for suitable partners in coming out with innovative products for the best interests of our investors. We hope to choose the best partners with different skills and investment styles, especially in the context of global investment that will enhance our stable of funds for our VIP investors.” he continued, adding that the multi-manager approach is getting popular and more beneficial to the investing public.

“Our business model and target market are very unique whereby we use a direct approach in reaching out our high-net-worth market by offering our products through our own in-house trained professional personal investment managers. The key objective is to ensure all our VIP clients are being taken care with timely personalized service without going through mass third party agents,” said Wong.

According to him, with the direct service approach and not through third party agencies, investors are timely updated with personalized advisory in accordance with each unique individual’s financial need and risk profile in an ever-changing market conditions. More importantly there is a huge savings of distribution costs or agency commissions; that explains the reason why ArecaCap is able to offer “the best services for a very low fee.”

With current total fund size under management in access of RM150million in just less than 4 months since the initial launch, ArecaCap is set to reach out to its target VIP clients by recruiting more Personal Investment Managers to increase its fund size by 200% within the next 18 months.

-JERNEH’S ASSOCIATE, ARECA CAPITAL PARTNERS WITH UOB-OSK TO JOINTLY MANAGE ARECA EQUITYTRUST FUND-