Most fund pickers decided to retain their ratings on Schroder Asian Alpha Plus since Abbas Barkhordar became sole lead manager, taking over portfolio decision-making from Richard Sennitt.
The £1.7bn fund launched in 2007, with Sennitt involved from the start and then taking over as lead manager in 2021, when Matthew Dobbs retired from Schroders after almost four decades at the firm.
Barkhordar, who has been with Schroders since 2007, was appointed deputy manager of Schroder Asian Alpha Plus in 2021 and promoted to co-manager in 2023, before taking over as lead manager in June 2026.
Since then, Sennit has continued to work within Schroders' Asia team in an advisory capacity. Trustnet understands that this was a move to consolidate the offering, with Sennitt focusing on income and Barkhordar on the growth products.
Schroder Asian Alpha Plus returned 27.4% in the year to date, against 24% for the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan index and 23.7% for the IA Asia Pacific Excluding Japan sector average, as the chart below shows.
Performance of fund against index and sector over ytd
Source: FE Analytics
The fund is run with a bottom-up process, which aims to identify well managed, growing companies trading below their fundamental value. The portfolio is not constrained by the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan benchmark, and sector and country weightings can differ significantly from the index, according to Titan Square Mile.
The investment research firm has kept its ‘Responsible Recommended’ rating on the fund. Analysts acknowledged that Barkhordar is largely unproven as a lead manager in his own right, but cited his record as co-manager.
"We have been impressed with his contributions to meetings over the last few years and his growing influence on the portfolio, which has delivered strong performance relative to the peer group," they said.
"We take comfort from the fact that he will continue to be supported by Sennitt as well as the wider Asian team."
Tom James, investment analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, shared the sentiment.
“Richard Sennitt is an experienced investor in Asian markets and we're disappointed to see him step back from the fund. However, he remains a senior member of Schroders' Asia team and continues to work closely with Barkhordar, including on the discussion of ideas for the fund."
James added that Hargreaves Lansdown expects some differences between the managers' views to bring changes to the fund over time, but said it is comfortable the fund will not deviate from its existing process.
FundCalibre has also kept the fund on its Elite list.
"Abbas Barkhordar has extensive experience managing Asian equities and has been an integral member of the broader team, helping to ensure continuity of insight and approach," it said.
"With Richard Sennitt continuing to support the strategy as alternate manager, we believe the transition should be seamless and the fund will continue to benefit from its well-established investment process."
Schroder Asian Alpha Plus has an ongoing charges figure of 0.92% and has a dividend yield of 1.7%, according to its most recent factsheet.