< The 2015 All-Asia Research Team
Total appearances: 9
Team debut: 2007For a fifth year running, Bank of America Merrill Lynch leads this lineup. From Seoul and Hong Kong, respectively, Young-Ah Han and Chen Luo follow more than 140 regional consumer names with 14 colleagues who work in Australia, China, India, Japan, Singapore and South Korea. They plan to steadily expand their sector portfolio. Han, 44, and Luo, 38, are advising clients to think of the Asian consumer market as an ever-updating space. “Asia is fast moving in terms of its macro environment, its consumers’ lifestyles and its preference on brands and trends,” says Han. “We have to be fast and aggressive to catch the trends and newly growing brands and businesses.” Among the companies the analysts particularly like now is Chinese household appliances manufacturer Qingdao Haier Co., which they believe stands out for its industry leadership, deep value and strong cash-flow generation. They also favor the South Korean cosmetics industry, in general, because it boasts fast-moving product development, a strong promotional retail format and affordability. A potential winner in that subsector, the group projects, is AmorePacific Corp. The nation’s industry leader has best increased its brand portfolio and geographic coverage across Asia, the researchers note.
