This was our first introduction to the investment trust. Zehrid Osmani joined Martin Currie in 2018. Previously he had worked at BlackRock as Head of Global Equities. The fund has been totally changed since he came on board, reducing the holdings from over 60 to around 30. It has no FANG stocks and is underweight the US, with a fully integrated ESG strategy. In the recent downturn the fund demonstrated a 73% downside capture, with 116% upside. This is about identifying quality with careful management of risk and will focus on the highest conviction ideas. The manager is pleased with the returns thus far but knows there is still a way to go.
In terms of style and process the risk exposure covers industry, company, government and sustainability and portfolio. Just taking one area, industry risk goes deeper into areas like supply chain dependency, pricing power, customer power, competition etc. This all leads to a portfolio of companies with high barriers to entry, dominant market position, strong pricing power, low disruption risk, structural growth prospects, high ROIC, strong compounding cash flows, quality management and corporate culture, but at the very heart of everything low valuations….read more