RIDING OUT ASIA’S FINANCIAL SWOON

Not long after Mark Headley began running Matthews Pacific Tiger Fund in 1995, the Asian currency crisis decimated his portfolio. “At the peak in 1996, shares of our fund were about 14,” says 49-year-old Headley, now the fund firm’s CEO. “At the trough in 1998, they were 4.” By contrast, Headley thinks this year’s meltdown in the Asian markets isn’t nearly as bad—even though Matthews Pacific Tiger is down 46.7%. “Asia learned a lot from its last financial crisis,” he says. “Companies there today have much less debt and more cash to weather this storm.”