Some 183 new equity funds were launched from April to June, a rise of 58% compared to the second quarter of last year. Emerging market fund launches have been especially popular. Over 40 emerging market equity funds were launched, twice the amount of launches of European equity funds, though emerging markets represent less than 1% of the world’s total market capitalisation.
Focus on Asia
Asian equity funds (excluding Japan) were especially popular within the emerging market equity space with 12 launches, even exceeding the number of new global emerging market equity funds. As a contrast, only one Asian equity fund was liquidated during the period.
The popularity of emerging market equity fund launches might be a response to the increasing appetite for the asset class among European fund selectors (see graph below). Asset managers have long preferred developed equities, but have recently started to become more positive about emerging market stocks as well.
