Pru Life UK has expanded investment options for Filipinos through PruLink Global Tech Navigator Fund as it sees more budding technology-centric firms change consumer lifestyles and business strategies.

The fund, which focuses on the equities market, is being offered in partnership with asset managers ATRAM Group and Fidelity International.

“There’s a deeper market with technology. Back in 2009, there was only one tech company with the biggest capitalization and that was Microsoft. All other companies were in the energy sector,” ATRAM chief marketing officer Andrew Caw said Wednesday.

Clients can invest in US dollar-denominated stocks using the peso.

Through the fund, Caw said clients can gain investment returns from over 50 global technology firms, including other industry giants Amazon, Apple, Samsung, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

With the rapid consumer adoption of technology-backed products and services, he said the fund also takes advantage of firms related to gaming and entertainment, e-commerce, smart and electric cars, travel, information technology and finance.

However, Caw stressed Pru Life takes a calculated “contrarian” and “active” approach in seizing investment opportunities to minimize risks amid the sprouting tech startups.

“It doesn’t go with hype stocks. It goes back to what matters, which are software, manufacturing, and infrastructure products and services,” he said.

Caw added the fund seeks to invest in unicorns or those companies that can reach $1 billion in market capitalization like Facebook and relatively affordable stocks.

“We look at the whole universe and see where the value is. For example, during the time of the pandemic, Zoom was booming but the fund didn’t invest in it because it was too expensive and we looked at how long the hype of Zoom would be,” he said.

P30-M asset mgm’t targeted

Pru Life aims to attract at least P30 million in asset management for the PruLink Global Tech Navigator Fund which capitalizes on ATRAM Global Technology Feeder Fund and Fidelity International’s Fidelity Funds-Global Technology Fund.

Caw shared that Fidelity’s tech fund already reached $23.9 billion in assets as of July, making it among the biggest in the world. Meanwhile, ATRAM’s Feeder Fund attracted over P7 billion in assets.

“Demand is there and we continue to see growth here in the Philippines. People are investing and want a piece of the tech story. We saw demand from the young demographics because they are the ones that use artificial intelligence like ChatGPT,” he said.

As a long-term investment, PruLink Global Tech Navigator Fund comes with insurance to ensure clients remain protected from financial emergencies as Caw stressed the fund entails risks from foreign exchange movements and other economic and market conditions.

“Past performance is not indicative of future performance, but we’re optimistic. The money should be something you can set aside and if you have five to 10 years to put the money there, you’ll definitely benefit,” he said.