Sumeet Nagar & Akshay Mansukhani presenting: Sumeet co-founded Malabar and is the fund’s portfolio manager. Akshay is part of Malabar’s investment team and wears the hat of risk manager. Sumeet and Akshay will be sharing their insights on taking a ‘value’ approach to investing in Indian equities. Peer Insights Report Q&A Interview here.
Firm Overview:
Malabar India Fund LLC (Delaware) was launched in September 2008 as an India focused investment manager. We leverage our local relationship base to conduct in depth diligence and typically invest in high quality companies that are less followed by the investment community. Our board includes Oppenheimer & Close (New York) and Value Partners (Hong Kong). Last year the firm won Hedge Fund Managers’ Award winner for the Best India Fund 2014. The firms’ current AUM is ~$200mm.
We believe our global clients are looking for local partners who can generate long term investment value in an ethical manner, and without taking undue and uncalculated risks. We have therefore created an investment team which follows processes that help identify ethical and exceptionally run attractively valued small to mid-size companies which can outperform the markets over the long-term.
Investment Strategy:
We follow a ‘value’ based investment approach and are inclined towards businesses with strong moats, attractive economics, capable and trustworthy management and which are available at reasonable valuations. We believe that a concentrated portfolio of such businesses provides an attractive risk return tradeoff and will create value through earnings growth and multiple expansion over the long term.
While evaluating businesses we conduct thorough research which typically involves a 360 degree business review. In 2014, we conducted over 900 research related calls and meetings, typically involving customers, suppliers, competitors, management, employees, plant visits and channel checks. It is critical for us to evaluate an owner/managers drive, motivation, capability and integrity. We spend time understanding management’s capital allocation decisions.
We enjoy the confidence of a predominantly high quality US investor base who have a multi-year horizon on their investment and are comfortable with the volatility inherent in Indian equities. We are therefore comfortable investing with a 3-5 year horizon. We are comfortable varying our exposures depending on the market valuation environment and in many cases are the first institutional investor in a business.
Executive Bios:
Sumeet Nagar
Managing Director, Malabar Investment Advisors
Mr. Nagar is a co-founder of Malabar Investments and is the fund portfolio manager. Mr. Nagar has over a decade of experience in portfolio management and investment analysis as well as significant experience in operating roles. Prior to joining Holding Capital group and starting Malabar, Mr. Nagar was a consultant at McKinsey & Company where he was a founding member of its dedicated private equity group where he advised several private equity and hedge fund clients on investments in over 20 countries. Mr. Nagar is a graduate of the Indian Institutes of Technology, Bombay and earned an M.B.A. degree in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Akshay Mansukhani
Partner, Malabar Investments LLC
Mr. Mansukhani is a Partner of Malabar Investments, LLC with a dual focus on investment analysis and risk management. Prior to joining Malabar in 2009, Mr. Mansukhani was part of UBS and focused on alternative capital markets. During that time, Mr. Mansukhani helped raise more than $5 billion of equity and equity linked capital for businesses and was involved in a few of UBS’ proprietary investments. Mr. Mansukhani received his BSE and MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was selected as a Joseph Wharton Scholar. Mr. Mansukhani is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (“CAIA”).
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