Atlantis reshapes Asia ex-Japan business

By Claire Milhench

LONDON (Reuters) - Atlantis Investment Management, the independent Asia specialist, is reshaping its Asia ex-Japan offering with the medium-term aim of building a more diversified business to better withstand market turbulence.

Specialist emerging markets managers suffered massive redemptions last year when investors dumped higher-risk assets and fled for the safety of U.S. treasuries.

Atlantis -- which has $2.6 billion (1.6 billion pounds) in assets -- has taken the decision to close one sub-scale single-country fund, restructure another, and plans to launch more broad-based products when market conditions allow.

"We want more of a balanced business base," said Marketing Director James Alexander. Towards that goal, two fund ideas are on the back burner awaiting improved market conditions.

One of these would invest in the ASEAN countries -- the Association of South-East Asian Nations -- which includes larger markets Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, as well as frontier markets such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

The other would be a broadly-based Asian fund, giving Atlantis more stability during market turbulence than its existing niche Asian Recovery Fund. This would compete head on with some of the better-known names in Asian investment.

"In time this could be a much larger product," said Alexander. "We want a more diversified Asia ex-Japan business."

KOREA CHANGE