Back in business
BY GARY CORCORAN
“I thought she’d say I was
mad, or forget it, or you
promised me…but she said
well, if you’re going to do
it, you’d better get on with
it as you haven’t got much
time.”
This was the reaction
Anthony Bolton got from
his wife, Sarah, when he
first suggested coming out
of retirement, relocating to
Hong Kong and running
money again.
The reaction he got
from the rest of the investment
community was probably
one of surprise rather
than shock, though there
were a few eyebrows
raised at his choice of running
a China fund.
“Some people have said
that I looked at all the
emerging markets, rated
them, and saw China as
the best one so that is why
I chose China. It wasn’t
like that at all,” he
explained.
l A mentoring role
Since he initially retired
from running money,
Bolton has spent time mentoring
Fidelity’s younger
fund managers, saying that
before he retired from the
company – originally
planned for the end of
2008 – he wanted to go to
Asia to do some training
with the Asian team.
“So I went at the end of
August last year, spent
three months there, visited
our offices, did two trips to
China, and saw about 40
Chinese and Hong Kong
companies. Coming back
and getting close to it again
[rekindled my interest].
Some people think that
Fidelity put up such a big
carrot, but it was very
much my idea.”
He already has experience
of investing in Chinese
companies with his Special
Situations Fund having up
to 5% in Chinese stocks,
first visiting China in
autumn 2003. He actually
GDP per capita ($)
FUND MANAGER PROFILE ANTHONY BOLTON
In an exclusive interview with Portfolio Adviser, Anthony Bolton talks to Gary Corcoran
about the challenges he faces running the Fidelity China Special Situations Fund,
including the one where he calls it a day and finally retires
sold out of China just
before the fund was split
and the global segment
handed over to Jorma
Korhonen on 1 Jan, 2007,
while Korhonen, benchmark-constrained
to the
MSCI World index, still
only holds 1.3% in China
companies.
One frequently asked
question is how long he
intends to run money for,
with some critics saying
’09 ’99 ’89 ’79
China 6,500 864 306 181
India 3,100 451 351 222
Japan 32,600 34,328 23,881 8,692
South Korea 27,700 9,554 5,438 1,747
UK 35,400 24,942 14,667 7,431
US 46,400 33,028 22,047 11,306
Source: CIA World Fact Book
Some people
have said that I
looked at all the
emerging markets,
rated them, and saw
China as the best
one so that is why I
chose China. It
wasn’t like that
at all
“
”
MARCH 2010 [www.portfolio-adviser.com] PORTFOLIO ADVISER
33
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