Liquidity seen flooding back into Asia for growth and value

Michael Bunker, London-based chief investment officer of Pacific investments for GAM, which has US$2.1 billion under management, has seen interesting times in the Asian markets since he began investing here in the 1970s.

The Hong Kong-authorised GAM Pacific Fund, which he manages with Hong Kong-based colleague John Mytton, celebrates its 20th anniversary later this year.

'It is quite exciting here at the moment,' he says. 'There is a nice balance of opportunities. All of a sudden we are getting more candidates that meet our standard for investment.

'We have had years of problems with the Japanese economy in the 1990s and then the financial crisis in Asia, which made it difficult to find companies because they had to cope with quite low growth.'

With China as the catalyst for economic activity in the region, the future looks bright, particularly as intra-regional trade now accounts for 40 per cent of total trade. He believes the flow of liquidity back to Asia is only just beginning - and in the next two to three years investors will begin to see that the prospects for growth are better here and companies undervalued.

Mr Bunker says in the past he has been accused of being too conservative, but he sticks to his guns about evaluating companies thoroughly with a view to long-term growth. He also has money in his own fund.