Matthews Asia Renames Technology Fund To Better Reflect Strategy

Matthews International Capital Management, LLC, advisor to the Matthews Asia Funds, announced that effective April 30, 2010, the Matthews Asian Technology Fund (MATFX) has been renamed the Matthews Asia Science and Technology Fund to better reflect its investment strategy. The Fund’s objective and ticker remain unchanged.

Launched on December 27, 1999, the Fund is the top-ranked fund out of 19 funds since inception, based on total return, in the Lipper Global Science and Technology category (as of March 31, 2010). The Fund’s investment universe and portfolio have always included health sciences-related stocks, such as biotechnology, medical device and pharmaceutical, as well as stocks of companies involved in the distribution and servicing of these products. Matthews believes the addition of “science” to the Fund name will better reflect its investment approach as well as the expanding role of these sectors in Asian economies.

“As income levels rise in Asia, health care expenditure per capita should grow accordingly,” said Michael Oh, the Fund’s Lead Portfolio Manager. “We believe that the majority of this new spending will be related to technology such as medical devices, and also expect demand for more affordable drugs and medical supplies to grow as the Asian market expands.”

Asia is already the world’s largest health care market in terms of number of patients. Yet Asia spends among the least per capita on health care globally. In 2009, health care spending per capita was approximately US$7,500 in the U.S. and US$3,400 in Western Europe. By comparison, per capita spending in Asia (excluding Japan) was only about US$550, with China and India averaging US$147 and US$51 per person, respectively. Health care spending is growing faster in these markets than it is in the West. In the past three years, China’s health care expenditure has grown about 17% annually, and India’s 11% annually, compared with increases of 2% and 4% for the U.S. and Western Europe, respectively.