OREANDA-NEWS. August 03, 2015. Fitch Ratings has downgraded LFP JKC China Value's Fund Quality Rating to 'Good' from 'Strong', removing it from 'Under Review'. The fund is managed by JK Capital Management, an affiliate of La Francaise Asset Management (La Francaise AM).

The downgrade reflects the removal of the positive performance adjustment that was applied to the rating as the fund's risk-adjusted performance no longer qualifies for such an adjustment under Fitch's assessment. Fitch's qualitative assessment of the fund continues to reflect our view that the fund meets professional investors' standards.

Fitch's qualitative assessment reflects the fund's in-depth proprietary stock research, with a strong emphasis on company governance, disciplined portfolio construction and an experienced investment team. It also takes into consideration the fairly small size and specialist nature of the investment manager. In this respect, Fitch views positively the recent addition of two new investment professionals to the team, which helps reduce reliance on key staff. Fitch also takes comfort from the growing role of JK Capital Management's institutional shareholder, La Francaise AM, which owns 50% of the company capital since June 2014 and has demonstrated hands-on top management involvement and business development support.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Fund Presentation
LFP JKC China Value is a sub-fund of JKC fund, a UCITS IV Luxembourg SICAV, and had USD108m of assets as of end-June 2015. It is a long-only, concentrated equity fund with an absolute return focus and a value, mid-cap bias. It invests in companies that operate out of China, mostly privately-owned, and that are predominantly listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The fund actively uses cash for risk balancing and downside protection in volatile markets.

Investment Process
The investment process is disciplined and based on bottom-up selection of around 35 to 50 stocks without regard to index weighting. It draws on the experience of the lead portfolio manager as the key decision maker. A quantitative screening process and financial analysis of qualifying companies is followed by mandatory on-site meetings. Portfolio construction emphasises the impact of new stocks/sales on the portfolio's correlation matrix and beta.

Resources
The lead portfolio manager, Fabrice Jacob, is the CEO and co-founder of JK Capital Management and has been managing the fund since its inception. His co-portfolio manager, Joel Chow, joined the company in 2005 as an equity analyst. They are part of an eight-strong team of research analysts and portfolio managers covering Asian equities with a strong focus on China. The team was further strengthened in 2015 with the addition of a senior equity analyst/portfolio manager and a fixed income portfolio manager. JK Capital Management has an entrepreneurial culture, flat organisation structure and appropriate segregation of duties. Effective measures have been taken to reduce dependence on key staff, primarily Mr. Jacob.

Risk management and fund compliance with investment guidelines is overseen independently from the investment team, and by La Francaise Group. IT, compliance, and financial functions are outsourced to established third-parties.

Track Record
The fund has delivered a return of 8.5% in 2015 and 36% over three years to end-June 2015. Its performance improved relative to the MSCI China Free Index and relevant value-oriented peers since April 2015. It is nonetheless underperforming the index and peers in the year-to-date and over the last three years. In Fitch's opinion, the fund's underperformance relative to the market in 2014 resulted largely from the negative effect of its value and mid-cap bias, which was not compensated by superior stock-picking in those areas. The fund, launched in February 1998, uses the MSCI China Free index as reference index although it has a markedly different market cap and sector profile to that of the index.

Fund Manager
La Francaise AM International, the manager of the Luxembourg SICAV, is a wholly owned subsidiary of La Francaise AM (Asset Manager Rating 'High Standards'), part of La Francaise Group, a French asset manager with EUR51bn assets under management (AUM) at end-May 2015.

Investment management is delegated to JK Capital Management Ltd (Hong Kong), a boutique manager specialising in Asian, in particular China, value equity investing. It was established in 1997 and is registered with the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. The company is jointly owned by Mr. Jacob and La Francaise AM. They both increased their ownership to 50% each in June 2014, upon the retirement of Randy Kwei, the second co-founder and long-standing partner of the company.

RATING SENSITIVITIES
The rating may be sensitive to material changes in the investment or operational processes or market risk profiles of the fund. A material adverse deviation from Fitch's guidelines for any key rating drivers could cause Fitch to downgrade the rating. For example, notable structural deterioration in the fund's performance or departure of key investment professionals may result in a lower rating.

In the case of LFP JKC China Value, Fitch recognises that the fund's market cap and style profile can lead to periods of significant underperformance relative to benchmarks and peers. Nevertheless, underperformance stemming from accumulation of stock-picking losses would indicate structural deterioration of the investment process.