How to invest in the exploding China market even when it heads South

Samantha Ho is a CFA (Certified Financial Analyst®) with a business administration degree from Bryn Mawr College and an MBA from UCLA Graduate School of Management. May Lo earned a BS with distinction from Cornell University and her MBA from Sloan Business School at MIT. They are responsible for managing AIM China Mutual Fund out of the Hong Kong offices of INVESCO Hong Kong Limited. AIM Investment Services is located in Houston, Texas. Ho began her investment career in 1989 as an analyst with Jardine Fleming Securities Ltd. In 1994 she joined the Hong Kong subsidiary of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, managing mutual finds invested in Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan. In 2000 she became a founding member and executive director at Manulife Asset Management (HK). She joined INVESCO in 2004. Two years later, on March 31, 2006, she and Ms. Lo, who had come to the company in 2005 from Morgan Stanley, launched AIM China Mutual Fund. Their background and skills have placed the fund miles ahead of funds in the same category. This year the fund performance has been phenomenal, rising 62.46 percent, compared to the S&P 500 gain of 4.7 percent. (measured Sept. 12, 2007). In its first 12 months, the fund increased 122.92 percent from its beginnings. Portfolio selections by Samantha Ho and May Lo have successfully guided the fund this year through the two major downturns in the China market. The initial dip came in March when the fund slid 17 points, from a gain of 45 percent for the year to bounce off the 28 percent level. From then on the fund rebounded steadily. When the market headed South in early August, the fund dropped 25 points from a stout showing of 106 percent growth in value from inception, bouncing off the 76 percent level to rise steadily to its Sept. 12 peak of 122.92 percent. The AIM China Mutual Fund (AACFX) has a simple objective, long-term growth of capital. Its 52-week low is $9.92. The high was its Sept. 12 level of $21.77 per share. The depth of market investment experience (18 years for Samantha Ho) has kept the fund out of trouble in a China market that's destined to slow. It may be said that the market my slow but the economy shows no signs of slowing, hence this duo has positioned the fund to continue capital growth. Holdings are spread over a broad spectrum but include CNOOC LTD, China Mobile Ltd, China Life Insurance, China Construction Bank, China COSCO Holdings, Ping An Insurance, PetroChina Co Ltd, China Coal Energy Co., Industrial and Commerce, and Cosco International Holdings, among others. We first recommended AIM China Mutual Fund in our article posted Jan. 29 entitled: "Here's Proof that Success-Based Pattern of Investment Can Pay Even in an Inflated Market." -The credit for success belongs, of course, to Samantha Ho and May Lo.