Manny Pohl

EC Pohl & Co Pty Ltd has acquired UK investment management firm, Sanford DeLand Asset Management (SDL), effective 1 November 2025. SDL will operate as a wholly owned autonomous business with longstanding SDL co-managers, Eric Burns, David Beggs and Chloe Smith, remaining responsible for managing the SDL UK Buffettology and Free Spirit Funds. EC Pohl & Co’s executive chair and CIO, Dr Manny Pohl AM, will become chairman of SDL and Scott Barrett will become CFO of SDL.

Commenting on the acquisition, Dr Pohl said: “This acquisition of a licensed firm in the UK strengthens EC Pohl & Co’s global presence. In addition, we saw a strong alignment in investment approach and cultural values in SDL and the current team supported by Eric, David and Chloe has a solid and proven track record of delivering exceptional returns for investors since inception”.

EC Pohl & Co is a family office with investments in a number of companies providing financial services. Individually managed, share portfolio services are provided to sophisticated investors by its wholly owned subsidiary EC Pohl & Co Private Wealth and its other associate, ECP Asset Management, offers investment management services to large institutional investors in Australia and to those globally via its ECP Global Growth Fund.  ECP Asset Management and SDL will continue to operate as independent stand-alone entities.

Global Masters Fund Limited is one of three listed investment companies in which EC Pohl & Co has an interest and it has 55 per cent of its portfolio in Berkshire Hathaway.

Sanford DeLand was founded in 2010 by Keith Ashworth-Lord with a focus on UK equities. It currently has $700 million in AUM, across two funds. The SDL UK Buffettology Fund is directly inspired by the investment principles of Warren Buffett, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. These principles are often referred to as “Buffettology^® “, a term popularised by Mary Buffett (Warren Buffett’s former daughter-in-law) and David Clark in their book “Buffettology”.

Buffettology^® is synonymous with the Business Perspective Investing approach that Buffett has championed and includes:

• Understanding the business thoroughly before investing (“circle of competence”)
• Investing in high-quality businesses with strong competitive advantages (economic moats)
• Focusing on long-term value, not short-term market movements
• Buying at a sensible price, often using discounted cash flow and other intrinsic valuation models

The acquisition has the support of Mary Buffett and David Clark who said: “Besides being a true gentleman, Manny Pohl is one of the great quality investors of the Anglosphere. Manny has been a follower of Warren Buffett and a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder for a very long time. We are both absolutely thrilled he is now connected with the UK Buffettology Fund as a permanent member of our Buffettology family.”

EC Pohl & Co will support SDL in its next growth stage by providing it with operational resources and a broader reach without disruption to the team or the funds. SDL’s founder and CIO, Keith Ashworth-Lord, will remain with the business until next year to ensure a seamless transition before his planned retirement.

“Having known Manny Pohl for some time I’m very confident EC Pohl & Co is the right long-term steward of Sanford DeLand. The most important aspect for me is alignment on investment philosophy and ensuring the SDL investment team maintains decision making autonomy while gaining the backing of a larger, supportive parent company.

“Investment continuity is key for us as we start the transition to ensure no disruption for investors in the Buffettology and Free Spirit Funds,” said Keith Ashworth-Lord, CIO of Sanford DeLand Asset Management.

“We are looking forward to working with the Sanford DeLand team and extend our sincere thanks to Keith and our warmest wishes as he prepares for retirement next year,” said Dr Pohl.

This acquisition follows EC Pohl & Co’s acquisition of an equity stake in the UK listed investment trust, Athelney Trust Plc, in 2022.

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The highly respected Australian fund manager Manny Pohl is launching a new long only, high conviction, growth style equity product via his new venture, EC Pohl & Co.

Dr Pohl says the new fund, the EC Pohl & Co Mid Market Opportunities Fund, will focus on stocks outside of the ASX top 50 and will also allow for up to 40% of its funds under management to be invested in unlisted private companies, which have the intention of listing on the ASX.

Dr Pohl said the central theme of the investment process will be investment flexibility to identify capital light, quality companies and a focus on generating absolute returns for investors.

“What I have seen in the past is that the investment process can become too rigid as the manager strives to ensure the fund remains within certain parameters.  Manager skill and the identification of exceptional investment opportunities therefore become secondary and may not be adequately reflected in the portfolio construction process.”

“We aim to empower our investment team to use their skill in assessing investment opportunities and the relevant risks, rather than relying on indices and predefined structures to determine outcomes. Our incentive structures have been developed so that employees are remunerated as owners, and focused as investors.”

Dr Pohl says he believes that the principles of focusing on the absolute (rather than relative) return to investors and always acting in clients’ best interests should underpin any organisation managing other people’s money.

Dr Pohl attributes the very large growth in SMSF investors in part due to the fact that these investors have, by and large, lost faith in the finance industry and believe they can do a better job managing their own money.

“Just as the advice industry has had to change its policies and practices to rebuild the trust of Australian investors, so too investment managers must look at how they manage their clients’ money and understand that they are only temporary caretakers of these funds and that they can make a huge difference to their clients financial wellbeing.

EC Pohl & Co Mid Market Opportunities Fund was operational as of 3 July 2013 and is available to wholesale investors with a minimum of $20,000 to invest.  EC Pohl & Co has reserved capacity for the fund out of its total firm capacity; as the total firm capacity will be capped at A$1.5 billion, capacity for the fund will be limited. Equity Trustees is the Responsible Entity for the Fund and EC Pohl is the Investment Manager.

Manny Pohl was the driving force behind one of Australia’s most awarded fund managers, Hyperion Asset Management and the highly respected listed investment company, Flagship Investments Limited. He brings investors a proven investment model of high quality investing, consistently ranked top quartile performance across most time periods.

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The founder and former managing director of boutique fund manager, Hyperion Asset Management, Dr Pohl departed that role in March this year to focus on offering portfolio management to high net worth individuals and to establish the private equity investment business.

“The opportunity to offer investors a private equity capability by joining forces with a very experienced, established management team of the highest calibre proved to be extremely compelling, in fact irresistible,” said Dr Pohl, when announcing the acquisition and launch of the new business.

Dr Pohl went on to explain that, in his view, the current business environment presents outstanding opportunities for experienced equity professionals to make high quality investments in the private equity space at attractive valuations.

“We believe that there has been a gap in the private equity market at the mid-market level and we’re keen to fill it,” said Dr Pohl. “The fact is that too many promising businesses with real prospects for long term success have been shut off from the capital that they deserve. We are here to change that.”

Dr Pohl built a reputation at Hyperion for rigorous methodology and the application of a highly considered investment philosophy, which led to considerable success and he has remained true to form in the construction of the new venture.

“We are sector agnostic, and focus only on businesses that are consistent with our philosophy,” he explained. “That means those with recurring and maintainable profits, which rules out project-based businesses such as mining and construction. What we are looking for is businesses that have been built from the ground up, where there are strong fundamentals and growth plans but where the owners may be reluctant or unable to fund that growth themselves for a variety of reasons.”

Joining Dr Pohl as managing partners in the new business are former Pinnacle Private Equity joint managing directors, Bill Cook and Peter Ludemann, both of whom are also former members of the AMP Capital Investors private equity team. Jared Pohl, who has held a number of significant roles at Hyperion, is also a managing partner. Dr Pohl will also assume the role of chair of the investment committee and will be joined on the committee by Murray d’ Almeida, a prominent businessman.

Expertise derived from Hyperion’s years of success focusing on mid-market businesses – the Hyperion Small Growth Companies Fund has delivered 16.5% p.a. (net of fees) since inception – is now being applied to the private equity business.

“While the focus of our new business is on unlisted companies, they share many characteristics with those Manny and Jared assessed in their days with Hyperion. Their experience picking portfolio winners along with my own and Peter’s private equity expertise is a winning combination,” said Bill Cook.

“The mid-market funds in which Bill and I were involved: BDF II and PEF III, delivered outstanding returns for investors. Since then, we have both been involved with a number of other successful PE deals,” said Peter Ludemann.

EC Pohl & Co Private Equity Limited is looking  to engage in funding  for management buy-outs, management buy-ins, buy-and-build strategies and succession planning for businesses with annual earnings in the $5 million to $30 million  range, with an enterprise value of between $25 and $150 million. It will be issuing offers to prospective investors from July this year.

“We believe that 2012 will be an excellent vintage for private equity investment,” Dr Pohl concluded.

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