Independently owned specialist asset manager, Coupland Cardiff Asset Management LLP, is being renamed ‘Chikara Investments LLP’. This follows the retirement, at the end of 2022, of the two founders, Richard Cardiff and Angus Coupland.
As part of the business re-investing in its future and providing clarity on any confusion with individuals’ names, the Chikara name came into effect today. The change does not affect the portfolio managers, the way funds are managed, or the investments of its clients, but does reflect a contemporary institutional asset management organisation. The Irish UCITS umbrella fund is now known as ‘Chikara Funds Plc’, and the UK listed investment trust remains as CC Japan Income & Growth Trust Plc.
Chikara manages assets on behalf of Pension Funds, Family Offices and other institutions. This includes the $525 million Chikara Japan Income and Growth strategy, managed by Richard Aston. Since its launch in 2013 to the end of June 2023, the UCITS fund has returned 221% in yen versus the index return of 203%, and the corresponding investment trust, CC Japan Income & Growth Trust Plc is the second-best performing Japanese equity fund over 3 years.
Alongside the long-standing Japan Alpha and Asian Evolution strategies the company manages the Chikara Indian Subcontinent Fund. The fund has tripled in size over the past year to c.$60m and is up 13% YTD versus the index return of 6%, and 64% since inception (November 2018). In March 2023, along with its new Head of Operations, Chirag Damani, the company announced the expansion of its investment capabilities with the appointment of a global emerging markets equity team. Headed up by established investor, Jonathan Asante and his colleagues from Stewart Investors, the company will shortly be launching a UCITS fund and, where appropriate managed accounts for this team.
The name Chikara is symbolic of the pedigree of the business in managing Indian, Japanese, Global Emerging Markets and wider Asian equites. In Japanese Chikara means ‘strength’, whilst in India, Chikara is a harmonic instrument.
James Tollemache, Chief Executive of Chikara, said:
“Changing the company name to Chikara marks a new era for the organisation as we continue to demonstrate the clear value proposition we offer to our investors as a contemporary institutional asset manager. We look forward to talking to investors about Chikara, which has meanings attributed to both strength and harmony – two words that encapsulate the bedrock of our beliefs.”
