CSAM’s born-again Asian fund

Credit Suisse Asset Management is promoting a revamped Asian product offering in Europe. The restructuring of the Asian range began 18 months ago following performance problems. The management of the funds was moved from New York to Sydney, where then newly recruited portfolio manager Peter Satori took control of the range.

Having turned around performance, Mr Satori is launching the CSAM Total Return Asia Pacific Fund. The Luxembourg-registered product aims to outperform three-month dollar Libor + 400 basis points by swinging between fixed income and equities.

Mr Satori is also hoping to bring a new lease of life to CSAM’s Oriental Fund. Returns over five years were 28.22 per cent, compared with the MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan’s 46.09. But for the past year the fund has beaten the index, returning 19.61, against the benchmark’s 17.35, according to Standard and Poor’s.