KUALA LUMPUR (March 25): Tradeview Capital Sdn Bhd — a boutique fund management company licensed by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) — has on Tuesday announced a distribution of a 7.03 sen dividend per unit for its flagship fund, the Tradeview Sustainability Fund (TSF), after logging an 18.8% return in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2024.

The dividend entitlement and ex-date are set for March 28, 2025.

Launched on Nov 18, 2022, TSF is a sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) open-ended wholesale fund that focuses on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles, aiming for long-term returns.

According to Tradeview Capital’s press statement, TSF predominantly invests in small- and mid-cap stocks that are “fundamentally sound” and adheres to ESG standards.

Neoh Jia Man, the portfolio manager overseeing TSF, noted that the fund has recorded positive returns over the last year due to the increased awareness for ESG-compliant small- and mid-cap companies on the local bourse.

“Most ESG funds today only focus on the large-cap companies which are part of sustainability or ESG indexes. These indexes exclude small- and mid-cap companies.

“With our own proprietary assessment model, we are able to score and discover ESG-compliant small- and mid-cap companies poised for long-term growth, which allows us to outperform benchmarks and generate the alpha for the fund,” he elaborated.

Ng Zhu Hann, the founder and chief executive officer of Tradeview Capital, expressed optimism on the fund’s performance.

“TSF achieved a return of 28.4% since its inception, averaging 14.2% per annum, beating the FBM KLCI, FBM100 and FBM Small Cap Index benchmarks. This is the second consecutive year since our fund’s inception that we have declared a distribution yield of above 6%, with the latest year being 6.5%,” he said.

Ng, who started Tradeview Capital on April 1, 2022, believes TSF’s performance underscores the potential of sustainable investing, as well as the importance for public listed companies to strive to be ESG-compliant.

“With sustainability reporting being mandated for listed companies from 2025 onwards by Bursa Malaysia and the SC, this put our fund on the right track in meeting the capital markets’ agenda,” he said.

Tradeview Capital provides investment and fund management services to clients across various asset classes, including equities, bonds, commodities, pre-initial public offering (pre-IPO) placements and fixed income, subject to its clients’ mandate.

Ng observed that navigating the capital markets as a boutique fund is not easy because size does matter. Therefore, most new fund management companies do not survive beyond three years without consistent performance.

“We are proud to share that Tradeview Capital has today crossed the RM100 million asset-under-management (AUM) milestone, achieving an inflection point and full-year profitability in the latest audited financial year, ahead of our projected timeline by two years. Essentially, what this means is that we are here to stay for the years to come,” he said.