This article first appeared in Wealth, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on March 24, 2025 - March 30, 2025

TA Investment Management Bhd (TAIM) takes home the Best Equity (Malaysia) Group Award, the first time since 2004, according to its official website.

TAIM chief investment officer and executive director Choo Swee Kee says the firm’s best stock call last year was its investment in banking stocks, which provided a good base for its funds to keep pace with the benchmark index.

In addition, identifying the beneficiaries in the data centre and property play helped its funds sustain performances. Choo notes that 2024 left little room for TAIM to plan any contrarian strategies, with the glove industry being the only exception.

“After the sharp fall in glove stocks in 2022 and the removal of Top Glove and Hartalega from the FBM KLCI Index, many fund managers exited or pared down their holdings. We took the opportunity to add gloves into our portfolio progressively and benefited from the rotational interest in 2024,” says Choo.

Flexibility was an important aspect to have in 2024, as the market was volatile and news-driven. 

Choo explains that being nimble gave TAIM’s fund managers a wider choice of stocks with strong fundamental growth potential while being able to do more asset allocation strategies, instead of a strictly top-down approach to create alpha. 

TAIM’s asset allocation and cash level balancing remained relative to its equities, unchanged from any other year. 

“On average, our funds maintain a cash level of around 10%, though there were [brief] instances in which we strategically increased our cash level to 20%,” says Choo. 

He adds that TAIM’s investment philosophy is to have a strong focus on fundamental analysis and stay committed to its decisions despite market volatility. 

Choo says its fund managers and analysts consistently carry out on-the-ground as well as primary research to identify the appropriate stocks with strong potential. 

“Once a stock is selected, we maintain our conviction while actively taking profit when prices overshoot our deemed fundamentals. By continuously repeating the process, we have been able to adjust our portfolio holdings more efficiently and remain agile in responding to market conditions,” says Choo. 

While TAIM won no individual awards, TA Dana Fokus and TA Islamic Fund were two of its top performers in the Malaysian equity universe. 

As at end-January, the TA Dana Fokus fund accumulated returns of 185.36% over 17 years, with most of its asset allocation in the industrial products and services (16.96%) as well as technology (14.91%) sectors. 

According to its fund fact sheet, its top five holdings are in Tenaga Nasional Bhd (5.31%), Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd (4.40%), My EG Services Bhd (4.29%), Dialog Group Bhd (4.29%) and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (4.27%). 

Meanwhile, TA Islamic Fund had a cumulative return of 363.74% to investors over 24 years, with the highest exposure to the industrial (23.52%) and utilities (14.82%) sectors. 

As at February, its fund fact sheet notes that the Islamic Fund’s top five holdings lay in Tenaga (8.79%), Nextgreen Global Bhd (6.16%), Telekom Malaysia Bhd (4.76%), Sime Darby Plantation Bhd (3.97%) and Petronas Gas Bhd (3.54%).

Nextgreen Global is an investment holding company that positions itself as a leading player in the green economy. According to its official website, it is involved in the production of pulp and paper products using renewable energy sources and printing and publishing. It also developed the Green Technology Park, a self-sustaining industrial park in Pekan, Pahang.

Choo describes last year as a year of rebound, but the Malaysian stock market performance was not exceptional compared to the US and other regional markets. 

Looking ahead, he says 2025 will present even greater challenges to fund managers, especially with the added complexity of what he calls “the Trump factor”, as the new tariffs that the US president is introducing further disrupt the market.

“Each year presents its own unique challenges. The factors affecting market performance evolve constantly and the rate of change in 2025 is expected to be even more swift and unpredictable as the biggest economy in the world, the US, embarks on a mission to change the world trade order. 

“It will be a challenging year as we navigate the various tariffs introduced, but we have always believed that where there are risks, there will be opportunities for returns. Our goal is to replicate last year’s performance while maintaining adaptability to the shifting landscape,” he says. 

Choo notes that TAIM will need to be even more nimble than it was last year. The firm is likely to maintain a higher cash position and gravitate towards stocks with more stability in earnings.

From an asset allocation perspective, he favours a more balanced approach, but with more weight for equities. He is neutral on bonds, as he believes inflation in the US is going to stay stubbornly high because of tariffs imposed by Trump. 

Choo also has a positive view on gold as an alternative asset class. “We do like gold as a hedge against uncertainties in financial security and geopolitical risks. I understand that gold is one of the top topics in most central bankers’ agenda. It will not surprise us if more countries decide to increase their gold reserves.” 

As for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, TAIM is unable to provide comments, as the firm does not possess the expertise to value them. Choo acknowledges, however, that they are gaining traction because of speculative demand and expectations of more use cases in the financial system. 

Choo believes the biggest market risk this year is market confidence. “As we try to navigate the new world trade order, confidence in the economy and government is an important factor for investors to consider.   

“The market will not go up even though our companies are doing well and growing if there isn’t market confidence. So, we think maintaining confidence is the biggest risk for this year’s market.”

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