2015 All-Asia Research Team: Credit Strategy, No. 3: Soo Chong Lim & team

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< The 2015 All-Asia Research Team

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Soo Chong Lim & teamJ.P. MorganFirst-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 6

Team debut: 1997J.P. Morgan rejoined this roster last year after a 14-year absence, capturing a runner-up position, and now climbs to third place. Soo Chong Lim heads a four-analyst, Hong Kong–based “veteran team that consistently publishes presentations packed with good statistical data on Asia credit every quarter,” one fund manager asserts. “Their reports tell me everything I want to know about credit ratings, upgrades, downgrades, default rates, new issuances and comparisons between Asia and other emerging markets.” Lim, 52, signed on at J.P. Morgan in August 2008, after ten years spent specializing in credit research on Hong Kong and Singapore at Citigroup. Previously, he worked as an equity analyst and strategist covering Malaysia and Singapore for TA Securities and HLG Securities. Lim graduated from Kuala Lumpur’s University of Malaya with a first-class honors degree in civil engineering. The strategists view Asian credits overall as a defensive play in relation to those of other emerging markets, thanks to the region’s “more resilient economic growth and supportive investor base,” says Lim, and forecast a 2 to 3 percent total return for the group through year’s end. “While valuations are not particularly cheap on a relative-value basis,” he advises, “Asia could remain a safer spot, as other regions are facing harsher economic headwinds and geopolitical risks.” Moreover, an expanding cohort of investors should buoy the regional market “and help to absorb heavy new supply,” Lim notes. Regarding specific markets, he and his colleagues see value in China’s investment-grade credits, “which are still trading wide to similar-rated credits from other countries.” Particularly attractive are corporate hybrids, he notes — especially those with a “high step-up on coupon reset” — promising investors greater yield even as they “stay within the IG space.”

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