Bond fund managers based in Hong Kong and Singapore are now pitching for a mandate from the $1.2 billion Government of Guam Retirement Fund.
Guam is a protectorate of the United States and a roughly four-hour flight east of Hong Kong into the Pacific. It has two main industries, tourism - the scuba diving is good - and government. Although many of the US fund managers fighting for the business may have learned about the mandate from headquarters, the top brass have passed responsibility to Asia due to proximity. Or as one marketing exec at a US firm in Singapore put it, The guys in the States asked me, 'What part of China is Guam...
