Interesting profile of Ruchir Sharma in the FT this past week. He is the is Head of Emerging Markets as well as Chief Global Strategist at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Sharma grew up in India and got his start writing a weekly column for The Observer and, later, the Economic Times of India. In 1996, he was recruited by Morgan […]
Quarz Capital Goes Activist On HG Metal
Here is a potentially interesting activist situation at play in Singapore. Quarz Capital Management (Quarz) recently published an open letter to the board of directors of HG Metal Manufacturing (HG), an SGX-listed stockist and manufacturer of steel products. Based on their analysis, HG’s shares are trading at a “fire-sale” discount of ~60% to the company’s […]
Andrew Foster On Money Life
Andrew Foster, the founder and CIO of Seafarer Capital Partners (Seafarer), was a recent guest on the Money Life podcast. Seafarer is an investment adviser focused on emerging markets. The firm was founded in 2011 and currently offers two funds: Overseas Growth and Income and Overseas Value. Foster was previously at Matthews International Capital Management. […]
2017 London Value Investor Conference Notes
The folks over at Market Folly have posted their notes from the sixth annual London Value Investor Conference, which took place on the 25th of May. You can find the link to their full coverage of the speaker sessions here. This year’s conference was perhaps unusual in that featured a relatively high proportion of Asian or […]
Amorepacific Chairman On CNBC
Amorepacific chairman Suh Kyung-bae was on CNBC recently to talk about the company’s history and current expansion plans. Amorepacific owns 27 beauty and skincare brands and is the second largest cosmetics player in Asia after Shiseido. The company’s shares have been held by a number of the funds covered on this website, including the Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust, […]
Readings For The Week (28/5)
Longer than usual reading list this week. Enjoy! Flying high: VinaCapital on how aviation has become one of Vietnam’s fastest growing sectors. The bankruptcy of modern finance theory: Dan Rasmussen says that active investment management does not work for investors because it was not designed to benefit them. LeapFrog targets private equity gains in Africa and Asia: An interview […]
FCC HK: A Conversation With Allan Zeman
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong recently hosted a conversation with Allan Zeman on the political, economic and commercial future of the city. He discussed the prospects for the new administration, shared his advice for Hong Kong’s youth and reflected on the 20th anniversary of the handover. He also answered questions from the audience in attendance. Zeman […]
CFA’s Paul Smith: Reasons To Believe
Paul Smith, the president and CEO of CFA Institute, recently spoke at the 70th CFA Institute Annual Conference in Philadelphia. He pushed industry professionals to revisit the question “What is finance for?” and discussed some of the challenges facing the investment management profession today. He also outlined the four steps the profession must take to address these challenges, including: Revising current […]
HK Hedge Funds Leaving Central
Interesting article in Bloomberg yesterday on how hedge funds in Hong Kong are being squeezed out of Central as a result of higher rents coupled with industry-wide fee pressures. Apparently, more funds are now moving their offices out to suburban areas such as Wong Chuk Hang, Cyberport and Tin Hau because of affordability and unit economics […]
Tim Orchard’s Outlook For Asian Markets
Tim Orchard, Fidelity International’s chief investment officer for the Asia Pacific ex-Japan region, spoke briefly with finews.asia last week at a London forum organised by his firm. It wasn’t a particularly detailed conversation, but you can find the highlights here. You can also find the firm’s note on its outlook for Asia Pacific ex-Japan in 2017 here (published in December 2016). Some excerpts […]