Several prominent fund managers and the CIO exited Matthews Asia since 2020.
Bill Hackett, the CEO for 13 years, retired on June 30, 2022.
From the July M* FundInvestor newsletter:
"Cooper Abbott joined Matthews International Capital
Management as CEO on June 13, 2022, succeeding
Bill Hackett, who had served as CEO for 13 years and
is retiring on June 30. This development is unsur-
prising, because Matthews announced in December
2021 that Hackett was planning on retiring in
mid-2022 and that a search was underway for
his replacement."
"Abbott has more than 20 years of senior investment
management experience. He previously served
as president and chairman at Carillon Tower Advisors
(where he led that firm’s acquisitions of several
asset managers during his tenure) and as executive
vice president of investments and co-chief operating
officer at Eagle Asset Management (which is an affil-
iate of Carillon Tower Advisors)."
Comments
Per their website, Matthews Asia's assets stood at $17.2 billion as of July 2022. I was in their offices in 2017/2018 and their assets were nearly $35 billion. I've heard from portfolio managers at the company that most of the drop in assets are due to outflows (clients redeeming), not markets.
It sounds like Cooper was brought in to try and turn things around. He has a tough job ahead of him. Besides massive outflows, the performance of the funds has been horrible. Their flagship, Pacific Tiger has underperformed its benchmark for nearly the last 5 years. Two of their other big funds, Innovators and Asia Growth, were heavily loaded with tech names and took huge hits with the latest correction.
https://www.matthewsasia.com/funds/mutual-funds/asia-growth/pacific-tiger-fund/?FundClassType=MIPTX
Matthews fall from grace has been sad to see. I met with their founders years ago and loved their passion for Asia and entrepreneur spirit. But that energy left the firm many years ago, and the firm has become mediocre at best. I wish Cooper luck, but its a steep mountain to climb and competitors have really stepped up their game in both Asia and EM. Matthews is not the only trick in town anymore.
Thanks for your detailed commentary!
It's sad to witness the turn of events for this once estimable firm.
...Found this. RETIRING???? She can't be that old.....
https://citywireselector.com/news/a-rated-bond-boss-to-exit-matthews-asia/a2391349
Or is the word being used here in a non-standard way?
Looking at the direction of the company, its not a surprise. Why stay on the proverbial sinking ship when your skill set is in high demand? Having felt the change there over the years, I'm not sure why matthews didn't make a leadership change sooner at the top. It almost seems too late at this point. You all might remember they brought in some outside leaders, but they ended up resigning or leaving after very short stints. Yu Ming Wang famously joined in 2020 as Global CIO/President, but resigned within 9 months. That is also a really bad sign and highly unusual. Actually I've never heard of such a thing happening.
https://www.pionline.com/money-management/matthews-asias-presidentglobal-cio-resigns
Looking at the direction of the company, its not a surprise. Why stay on the proverbial sinking ship when your skill set is in high demand? Having felt the change there over the years, I'm not sure why matthews didn't make a leadership change sooner at the top. It almost seems too late at this point. You all might remember they brought in some outside leaders, but they ended up resigning or leaving after very short stints. Yu Ming Wang famously joined in 2020 as Global CIO/President, but resigned within 9 months. That is also a really bad sign and highly unusual. Actually I've never heard of such a thing happening.</i>
https://www.pionline.com/money-management/matthews-asias-presidentglobal-cio-resigns
@ProtonAnalyst33
Hmmmmmm...... Through thick and thicker for all these years, Robert Horrocks remains. Is something he's doing driving everyone away?
It does smell a bit of entrenched management.
Years ago, I was a shareholder. I got out long before the whole operation, as it were, went so far south, so fast.
It is the same issue that the US investors face with many Canadian natural-resources funds or European income funds. Unrelated, but Warren Buffett has a similar accounting problem with his Q2 this time in that the accounting rules require mark-to-market for BRK stock portfolio.
So, the investors should know about PFIC and mark-to-market accounting.
Anyway, that call was poorly handled by Matthews.
Sharat Schroff will leave Matthews Asia at the end of the month.
He joined the firm in 2005 and comanaged Matthews Pacific Tiger and Matthews India.
It was also disclosed that Taizo Ishida and John Paul Lech left Matthews Asia on December 19.
They joined the firm in 2006 and 2018 respectively.
"Speaking to Citywire Selector regarding these most recent changes, Cooper Abbott said:
‘Since my arrival at Matthews, we have made some changes, all with the goal of improving
investment results for our clients. A strong investment culture seeks to continually strengthen
investment focus and outcomes. That is what we are doing. Recent investment personnel
terminations are testament to Matthews’ dedication to investment results, making changes
where they are necessary to drive long-term alpha.'"
Article below may be paywalled.
https://citywire.com/selector/news/matthews-asia-s-pacific-equity-fund-under-review-as-veteran-exits/a2432941