Retire at Young

Kuala Lumpur, 31 March 2011 – HwangDBS Investment Management Berhad (“HwangDBS IM” or “the Company”) is proud to begin 2011 with a new addition to their signature “Select” series of funds! Their latest retail fund, the HwangDBS Select Dividend Fund (“SDF” or “the Fund”), is an equity fund which provides income and growth. This Fund will offer investors stability, regular returns and consistent performance at moderate risk levels. To this end, SDF’s strategy is to focus on stable and high-dividend yielding equities and identify “the next dividend leaders” equities in Malaysia and Asia-Pacific region. These are companies with solid fundamentals, strong corporate governance and balance sheets, factors that should present an exciting and sustainable growth story from an investor’s perspective.

Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of HwangDBS IM, Teng Chee Wai said, “The recent performance of the Asian economies has shown that they have decoupled from the West. These are economies that have remained resilient and are registering decent growth in a low growth and low interest rate environment. Against this backdrop, HwangDBS IM’s focus for 2011 will be income driven. Basically it means that our core investment portfolio will be in high dividend yielding equities and equities that could potentially experience high dividend pay out growth.”

Teng added that regardless of market environment, there will always be money to be made. It is a question of what, where, at what risk levels, and how to achieve it. 2011 will be a year of ongoing recovery and Asian markets are in the frontline as the next growth story. As such, opting to invest in SDF would be recommended though more conservative investors may choose alternative investments such as bond funds. However, he added a note of caution on the sensitivity of bond prices with regards to interest rate fluctuation as well as the generally lower rates of return offered compared to dividend funds. In addition to the mentioned benefits of dividend funds, they also offer the upside potential of capital appreciation, potentially higher income distributions, relative stability and the prospects of reducing the risk of inflationary pressures on their investment returns. In short, dividend funds will typically produce higher returns as they tend to invest in companies that are both established and creditworthy which provide dividends and interest payments on a consistent basis.

This recommendation is backed by HwangDBS IM’s strong track record and proven dividend management strategies. In-house managed dividend fund based on these strategies have generated consistent double digit growth rates with consistent positive returns¹. And, SDF is in addition to adopting similar dividend management strategies practiced in-house.

Teng continued, “SDF will offer a two-part approach whereby a portion of the Fund’s investments will be focused on stable and high-dividend yielding equities and the other portion in “the next dividend leaders” equities which have the potential to become strong, quality dividend paying equities in the future. These “next dividend leaders” represent the type of equities the Fund seeks to identify and invest in early with the objective of capturing that sweet-spot in both increase in dividend income and capital appreciation when it makes the successful transition to becoming known as dividend equity. The determination of the allocation between the two parts - high-dividend yielding equities and “the next dividend leaders” equities will be driven by prevailing opportunities in markets and will be premised on achieving the overall Fund’s objective of providing regular income on a semi-annual basis and capital growth over the medium to long term.”

In conclusion, Teng said, “The best investment strategies for 2011 and beyond will reflect the new realities in the world of investments: focus on reducing risk while getting the maximum returns on the truly safe investments in investors’ portfolio. Thus, through SDF, investors can lower their investment risk level and still make their money grow over the longer term.”

The minimum initial investment is RM 1, 000 and the minimum additional investment is RM 100. SDF has an approved fund size of 400 million units retailing at RM0.50 per unit during the initial offer period. In summary, the Fund aims to provide a combination of regular income and capital growth over the medium to long term period. To achieve the primary objective of providing regular income, the Fund intends to invest in Malaysian equities with a minimum of 70 per cent of the Funds’ net asset value and up to 30 per cent of its net asset value in Asia-pacific region. SDF will be made available through all HwangDBS IM sales offices and only two banks nationwide, namely Maybank Berhad and Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad. For more information on the Fund, please visit www.hdbsim.com.my or call our Toll Free Line number at 1-800-88-7080.