Fund that called the smartphone boom piles into driverless cars

HONG KONG (March 27): Fund manager Elizabeth Soon is on the lookout for her third “a-ha” moment. If her latest theme pans out as well as the first two, investors should start looking at driverless car suppliers.

So far, Soon’s moments of investor clarity in almost a decade at PineBridge Investments Asia Ltd. have been related to the smartphone -- both of them cases where she’s recognized undiscovered trends destined to take off. While she doesn’t place her latest interest in quite the same category, she says the coming revolution in autos may be a key opportunity for investors.

“A driverless car is something we think will come,” said Soon, who is particularly interested in the components sector, which will play a greater and greater role as driving becomes progressively more automated. “As things develop, that area is going to grow quite strongly.”

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