Boutique global equity manager combines classic and ‘Thematic’ investing to identify often overlooked stocks
Looking to long-term thematic investments strategies.
Global equities fund manager, River and Mercantile Asset Management LLP (R&M), believes Australian institutional investors could be missing out on global companies likely to benefit from structural trends due to an over-reliance on conventional global equities investment styles.
The UK-based fund manager’s investment process layers classic business fundamentals and financial valuations with thematic investment.
By combining a thematic investing – a style of investing based on identifying long-term global economic and social themes or trends – with valuation and fundamentals analyses, R&M believes it is able to identify opportunities that can be often overlooked by a traditional ‘value’ or ‘growth’ investment approach.
R&M Chief Executive Officer, James Barham said: “Our investment process takes advantage of long-term themes through attractively valued investments in companies with robust fundamentals.
“The search for these leads us across the market capitalisation spectrum and is applied laterally across sectors and countries of differing economic development. The approach is opportunity driven and benchmark unaware, with portfolios built from conviction level. Only by the rigorous and systematic application of our process do we identify stocks from which we can deliver superior returns over the longer term,” Barham explained.
New alliance with Fidante Partners
Earlier this month, R&M entered into a long-term strategic alliance with Fidante Partners where they will partner to grow R&M’s business in Australia and New Zealand. R&M will manage the River & Mercantile Wholesale Global Equity Fund, which mirrors the investment approach and asset allocation of their UK-based fund of the same name.
Commenting on the new alliance, Fidante Partners General Manager, Cathy Hales said “We are excited to welcome R&M into Fidante Partners, and we see strong and sustained appetite among institutional and wholesale investors for global equities.”
As at 30 June, 2013, the UK-based R&M Global Equity Fund has outperformed the FTSE All-World Index by 1.5 per cent per annum, delivering returns of 10.3 per cent per annum since inception in October 2009. R&M currently manage $3bn across a range of strategies, with approximately $1.5bn invested in global equities strategies.