Global investing
The world is now a better place to invest from an equity perspective than it has been since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), according to US-based, global investment manager, William Blair Investment Management (William Blair).
Ken McAtamney, Co Portfolio Manager of William Blair’s Global Leaders Strategy, who visited Australia this week, said the outlook for global investing has improved as a result of the US being able to avoid the fiscal cliff; the political will in Europe to save the Euro and the Euro zone and re-acceleration of growth in China.
“Our view is that the outlook is more positive than is generally believed,” Mr McAtamney said. “But a recovery is not going to be smooth – it is going to come in fits and starts.”
William Blair Investment Management has more than $47 billion in assets and provides portfolio management for global equities, emerging markets equities, US equities, US fixed income and alternative assets.
Global Opportunities
Mr McAtamney said there are good opportunities in each of the three major global regions.
The US
In the US, Mr McAtamney said the housing market is particularly attractive. “Activity in the housing market is a large part of the US economy,” he said. “If you look at the related, derivative jobs around that, it could represent about a third of potential employment in the US – so that’s a sector in the US that we are very focussed on.”
Europe
In the European region, Mr McAtamney said it is very clear that the sovereign financial situation has been de-risked. “The political will to save the Euro and save the Euro zone is clearly there and thus the European financial sector is fairly interesting,” he said. “It has been controversial and relatively unloved and therefore there are some good valuation opportunities for the better companies there.”
Asia
Looking to Asia, Mr McAtamney said the region’s diversity makes it an attractive proposition. “The areas that could be favourable run really the entire gamut across all sectors,” he said. “So whether it is resources in Australia, consumer companies in China or industrial exporters in Japan, we think there are quite a few compelling opportunities.”
China, however, is particularly interesting. “We think they have clearly stabilised the slowing of their growth and to some extent we are seeing a re-acceleration – and we think that is critical, not just for China, but for the region overall.”
William Blair has an Australian and New Zealand presence after launching in Sydney late last year.
“We have capabilities that have been successful for sophisticated investors around the globe,” Mr McAtamney said. “We believe our approach and our investment culture fit well with our assessment of the Australian institutional investing market, which is also extremely sophisticated.”
