This week’s readings include a conversation with Seth Fischer of Oasis Capital Management, short interviews with three of Asia’s leading hoteliers, a look at the decades-long quest to bring down Bloomberg, thoughts on the recent ousting of Nawaz Sharif and an opinion piece on how Hong Kong and China are forging a new innovation economy. […]

Interesting interview with James Montier in this week’s issue of Barron’s. Montier is a member of the GMO’s Asset Allocation team. Prior to GMO, he was co-head of Global Strategy at Société Générale. Some excerpts / highlights below: On being a value investor in the current environment: “The U.S. has been an incredibly strong market […]

Howard Marks, the chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, has published his latest memo to clients of the firm. In the note, Marks writes that “this is a time for caution” and recommends clients move into lower-risk investments due to “lofty” market valuations.  He also shared his view on digital currencies, saying they are “nothing but […]

British Empire Trust (British Empire) recently published their June 2017 letter, which is available for download from their website. The company is a closed-end investment trust with shares listed on the London Stock Exchange. It is managed by Asset Value Investors Limited. As per their website, the trust’s investment objective is to achieve the creation […]

A longer than usual reading list this week. Enjoy! Why did all the 7-Elevens in Jakarta suddenly disappear?: Competition, regulations and a sluggish economy created a perfect storm that the convenience-store chain could not withstand. Interview with Nicholas Cator: Verlinvest Asia’s executive director on why India remains a key geography for his firm. In urban China, […]

Kerr Neilson, the CEO & managing director of Platinum Asset Management, recently published an excellent piece titled “Facts, Feelings and the Importance of Composition.” The article is available on the company’s website (link here, highly recommended). Neilson writes about the importance of checking whether your “feelings” are backed by facts when investing. He also ask […]

This week’s readings include a conversation with Japanese economist Eisuke Sakakibara, thoughts on what the MSCI inclusion of China A-shares means for investors, Stephen Roach on the lessons policymakers should learn from Japan’s experience since the early 1990s, an interview with Bob Rodriguez (formerly of FPA) and a look at the history of Air India. […]

Another reflection piece on the lessons learnt from the Asian Financial Crisis, this time from Mohammed El-Erian. He is currently the chief economic adviser at Allianz SE, the parent company of Pimco, where he previously served as CEO and co-CIO. Twenty years ago, however, he was working at the International Monetary Fund in Washington that “would […]

Arisaig Partners recently released their letter for June, which is available for download from their website. Their Asia Consumer Fund is now up 24.8% year to date, broadly in line with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index, which is up 22.8% over the same period. Some highlights below: The portfolio remains heavily weighted towards India (~47%). […]

Hurun Report recently published “The Chinese Luxury Traveller 2017” in association with ILTM Asia. The report looks at the trends that are set to come to the fore in the Chinese luxury travel market in the next three years. The analysis was based on the responses of 334 high-end travellers with average annual travel consumption of […]