e-fundresearch.com: Mr Luc D’hooge. You are the fund manager of Dexia Bonds Emerging Markets I Cap (ISIN: LU0144746764). Since when are your responsible for the fund management?
Luc D’hooge: 2002.
e-fundresearch.com: Which benchmark do you adhere to?
Luc D’hooge: JP Morgan Embi Global Diversified.
e-fundresearch.com: Are you also responsible for other funds at the moment?
Luc D’hooge: Managing Dexia Bonds Emerging Debt Local Currencies as well and supervising Dexia Bonds Euro Convergence.
e-fundresearch.com: What is the total volume that you manage in all your funds?
Luc D’hooge:550 million USD.
e-fundresearch.com: Regarding the performance: which performance did you achieve since the beginning of the year and in the years 2007-2011? Absolutely and relatively to the relevant benchmark?
Luc D’hooge: 12/2006-12/2011: Over these five years the I-shares performed 45.96% which is 3.26% better than its benchmark.
YTD till Oct 8th: the fund (I-share) performed 16.72%, which is 1.86% outperformance vs the benchmark.
e-fundresearch.com: How content are you with your own performance in the last years and this year?
Luc D’hooge: I am rather happy that we could outperform in most of the years while keeping the volatility well below that of most of its peers. I am glad that we could show that this is a process that generates consistent and repeatable outperformances.
e-fundresearch.com: How are you able to deliver added value for your investors with your performance?
Luc D’hooge: We consider emerging markets very much as a segmented market with a lot of low risk opportunities. It’s exactly on these low risk high information ratio trades that we tend to concentrate.
e-fundresearch.com: How long have you been a fund manager already?
Luc D’hooge: For almost 20 years.
e-fundresearch.com: What were your biggest successes and your biggest disappointments in your career as fund manager?
Luc D’hooge:I find it a nice success that we could show consistent performance through a long time period and even throughout the crisis years (2008)
e-fundresearch.com: What kind of capital market situation do we have at the moment? How do you act in this environment?
Luc D’hooge: It’s an environment driven by massive uncertainty and extreme and sudden changes in risk appetite. It’s really difficult to do directional trades so we concentrate on relative value.
e-fundresearch.com: What are the special challenges in this environment?
Luc D’hooge: It’s necessary to keep risk under control, and to keep sufficiently liquid positions to absorb possible outflows in the funds.
e-fundresearch.com: What objectives do you have till the end of the year and in the mid term for the upcoming 3 to 5 years?
Luc D’hooge: Continue to outperform.
e-fundresearch.com: Do you model yourself on someone? Any ideals?
Luc D’hooge: No I don’t, I am not trying to copy anyones investment process.
e-fundresearch.com: What motivates you in your job?
Luc D’hooge: I want to see happy clients, and the best way to get that, is through performance and transparency.
One of the main reasons why the job of a fund manager is very motivating and challenging, is the quick feedback between work and results. It’s so measurable.
e-fundresearch.com: What else do you want to achieve or do you have any further aims as a fund manager?
Luc D’hooge: Get more capital, which will facilitate our wish to expand the team and further improve our returns.
e-fundresearch.com: What other profession would you have taken interest in, apart from becoming a fund manager?
Luc D’hooge: I used to work in petroleum prospection and it was a very fascinating job too.
e-fundresearch.com: Many Thanks!
