Morgan Stanley Investment Management has announced the launch of the Morgan Stanley Investment Funds Japanese Equity Fund. The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by adopting a bottom-up fundamental approach investing in Japanese stocks to identify undervalued, quality business franchises that trade at a substantial discount to their long-term intrinsic value.

MSIM also announced the appointment of Hisayoshi Takahashi as Executive Director and Senior Portfolio Manager in the Japanese Equity Team. Takahashi, who will work with Portfolio Manager Arthur Pollock and the team, joins from Aizawa Securities and has 27 years of investment experience.

“The Japanese economy is recovering on a broad front from a very deep recession”, commented Pollock. “We believe Japanese stocks are still too cheap and we are excited about the value opportunities available in the market.”

The Team employs a high conviction, contrarian approach which centres on conducting independent research to identify and purchase a concentrated portfolio of stocks that the team strongly believes is mispriced. The team can also draw on MSIM’s global resources that have experience of investing in Japan which stretches back to the late 1980’s.

“The fund plays to MSIM’s traditional strengths and reputation for excellence in fundamental, bottom-up investment expertise,” said Navtej S. Nandra, MSIM’s International Business Head.

“We are very pleased that Hisayoshi is joining the investment team. With his long experience and expertise in Japanese equity investing, he will be a valued contributor to both the Japanese equity team and MSIM’s broader global equity investing efforts.”