< The 2016 All-Asia Research Team
Donald Chua & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
First-place appearances: 3
Total appearances: 16
Team debut: 1994
Improving on the runner-up showing they earned last year, Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s eight Singapore researchers rise to third place. Reporting is now overseen solely by Donald Chua, whose former co-leader, Chin Seng Tay, remains deputy head of equity research for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region. Chua tracked property names at CIMB Securities before moving to BofA Merrill in July 2014 and holds a bachelor’s degree in accountancy from Singapore Management University. He and his colleagues monitor 50 names in this space from offices in Hong Kong and Singapore. They elevated Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust to a top pick in January 2015, owing to the industrial REIT’s financial discipline and sustainable dividend yield. Through late April 2016 the shares rose 10.1 percent, to S.50 Singapore dollars, and led the country’s broad market by 20.6 percentage points. Although they peg A-REIT at S$2.60, his group has no top picks going forward, says Chua. “Donald doesn’t hold his punches, providing a clear road map for how situations may change in the future,” asserts one fund manager.