- The Fund seeks to invest in the best long/short emerging market natural resource ideas, particularly in Africa, that combine undervalued & unrecognized themes with overvalued, oversupplying or capital constrained resource firms. The target return is 10-12% per annum.
- Why? Natural resource investing provides intrinsic value with non-correlated returns in an environment of inflation, bank deposit confiscation, banking uncertainty, increasing food consumption & currency debasement.
Non-correlation to the US markets is important to us so we specialize in fundamental long/short equities with some special situation and event catalyst drivers. The Baobab Fund invests in the best long/short emerging and frontier market natural resource ideas, particularly in Africa, that combine undervalued & unrecognized themes with overvalued, oversupplied or capital constrained resource firms. Our style of natural resource investing historically has provided non-correlated returns in an environment of commodity inflation, bank deposit confiscation, banking uncertainty, increasing food consumption & currency debasement.
Increasing
M&A Activity › Focusing on companies with long life assets in emerging market jurisdictions.
› Companies are trading below intrinsic value or NAV due to capital shortage.
› Producing farms and land with water are scarce and desirable.
Earnings Momentum
is Slowing to a Trough
› Earnings compression in certain commodities provides potential short ideas.
› Poorly managed companies are no longer able to hide behind commodity prices.
Global Infrastructure
Build-Out › Africa, Asia and Latin America build-out of railroads, ports and power plants continues.
› Emerging market housing evolution in lower economic segments.
Global Food & Agricultural Theme
› Access to previously unfarmable land is now available to qualified organizations.
› Western planting & harvesting techniques creating better yields on emerging market and African farm land.
Inexpensive Valuations of Blue Chip Companies
› Solid businesses with growth potential preparing to rebound are trading below NPVs.
Featured Presenters:
Presenting: RUSSELL FRYER– Portfolio Management
RUSSELL FRYER– Portfolio Management
Prior to establishing the Investment Advisor, Mr. Fryer served as Managing Director covering the Natural Resources sector for North Sound Capital LLC, an investment advisor based in Greenwich, Connecticut. Mr. Fryer joined North Sound in 2006 from Deutsche Bank, where he had been a Director in Emerging Market Equities. Prior to that, Mr. Fryer was a Director in Emerging Market Equities at HSBC in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mr. Fryer started his investment career as a private client portfolio manager in 1990. Mr. Fryer holds an advanced diploma in International Taxation from Rand Afrikaans University and received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the Newport University. He is a member of the New York chapter of Society of Mining Engineers and Minerals and Metals Professionals Globally. Over the course of his 24-year investment career, Mr. Fryer has travelled extensively seeking to obtain the on-the-ground perspective he believes is so important to successful investing in the natural resources sector. In addition to this significant international travel, Mr. Fryer was based primarily in Africa from 1987 to 2004. While there, Mr. Fryer was able to benefit from proximity to many of the properties he continues to follow, and developed relationships at both senior and working levels throughout the industry. During his time in Africa, Mr. Fryer wrote investment columns for various news sources such as South African Smart Investor and the Sunday Business Times.
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