Total Emerging Markets Equity Team

Alison Shimada: The Total Emerging Markets team here at Allspring invests in growth and income stocks and in emerging markets and we look for attractive dividend yield, as well as capital appreciation because we'd like to participate in the asset class as long as possible and with less volatility and downside risk. So this style really allows us to buy growth stocks, but they happen to pay dividends, as well. And this is provided by strong cash flow, good earnings, and strong managements. So this is across 23 countries and we see a lot of opportunities. This is a very experienced team and you have to been through many cycles to understand the way the dividend stocks work. So we think in a volatile market condition as we are experiencing now, this is a great way to invest and stay in the asset class. 87% of emerging markets companies within the MSCI benchmark do pay a dividend greater than zero. So we look to the future and think that there will be more opportunities for dividends, as well as buybacks in emerging markets. And it will come from within the benchmarks. So within the 23 countries, most of the countries will have stocks that pay dividends. And we really feel that in most market conditions, this is an advantage because at least over the last ten years, 50% of your shareholder return has come from dividends in the asset class. And that's not unlike other asset classes, such as the U.S. and also Japan and Western Europe, as well. So it's to be expected and as they develop there will be more returns there, as well. The Total Emerging Markets team is based in San Francisco together and we travel to the regions when we need to see companies or go to conferences. We have a very culturally diverse team that sits here together and learns a lot from each other. And we have analysts from South Korea, from mainland China, from Russia, from Mexico and India, as well. The average number of years of experience on the team is 20+. And Elaine Tse and I, who are the co-managers of the strategy, have over 30 years of experience. And I think this is an advantage because we really understand the way dividend yielding stocks behave in many market conditions and we've seen many market cycles. So we know how to position for that. And that's very important and as well as to advise the analysts on any unusual circumstances we've seen, such as upheaval in certain countries or war-like conditions or any other chaos that can happen. But we usually know how to position and how to manage through that.