The facts behind the fundWe are often asked how we 昀椀nd new managers. What we don’t do is use backward-looking metrics to see whohas been performing well over the last 1 or 3 years, a much used method in our industry but a sure-昀椀re route tofailure. Instead, ideas come from a variety of sources. Skerryvore is a particularly interesting one as it came froma manager pitching their new Emerging Markets team to us. Being curious types, it made us wonder “I wonderwhere the old team went?”. After digging around, we found that they had set up Skerryvore.The Lead Portfolio Manager, Glen Finegan, had over 20 years’ experience investing in Emerging Markets and hadbeen joined by his team, most of whom had worked with him for a decade or more. Using our industry networks,we were able to reference the key people with their ex-colleagues as well as some large institutional clients thathad previously been invested with Glen. The feedback on the integrity of the people and the consistency of theirapproach was impeccable.This led us to do our own in-depth assessment of the 昀椀rm, team and process over a number of face-to-facemeetings. We were also able to assess Glen’s track record from a variety of funds he had managed previously aswell as review their portfolio holdings. Everything stacked up and there was clear evidence that they had beendisciplined in their approach.The process is described as being “absolute-return” focused, selecting only the highest quality businesses withpricing power and a sustainable advantage. An assessment of management quality is critical, only investing withthose with lengthy track-records of strong governance, alignment and integrity. This is to ensure the fruits ofthese businesses come to shareholders and are not siphoned off elsewhere. Nowhere is this assessment morecritical than within Emerging Markets and is a key reason why the manager holds very little exposure in China.When such quality focused strategies are employed diligently, you typically see performance streams that capturesome of the upside in strongly positive markets but, when markets are more volatile, the quality nature of theirportfolio means they suffer less. When combined this leads to market beating results over time. As you can seefrom the chart below, this is exactly what we have observed in Skerryvore’s results since they launched their ownfund, steadily rising in the post Covid rebound and being more stable in the more volatile markets post 2021. Thispattern is consistent with their record at previous 昀椀rms.Pg 10
It seems that your browser's pop-up blocker has prevented us from opening a new window/tab. Please click the button below to open the link manually.
