Global Equity Fund’s new head shares insights into its future

The Sasfin Global Equity Fund provides a cost-effective opportunity for private investors or independent financial advisors to access offshore exposure to businesses that will offer concentrated growth thanks to their unique competitive advantages over the long term. That’s according to the Fund’s new head, Andrew Padoa, who also leads Sasfin’s Durban office.

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“We have developed deep understandings of how these businesses work now, and how they’re likely to innovate and grow in the next five to ten years – and we stay the course with them as they evolve into organisations that will change the world,” Padoa explains.

The Fund’s biggest holdings are in Microsoft and Visa, with Microsoft leading the Fund’s trend of investing in companies that have reinvented themselves – and continue to do so. Another key investment is in France-based Louis Vuitton, which is seeing massive growth as a strong brand offering premium products in the Chinese market with its growing – and wealthier – middle class.

“Nike is another company that the Fund loves, and we added it to the portfolio recently because it’s taken the challenges of its environment and has adapted to become stronger and even more sought-after,” Padoa says. “It’s dealt with a destructive counterfeit industry that was damaging its immensely power brand by scaling technology and becoming a direct to customer business via its online platforms, dealing with fake product, boosting profits by removing middlemen from its sales process, and building even strong brand affinity among its loyal customers.”

With the Baby Boomer generation now getting older, Padoa notes that investments in healthcare businesses are defensive investments, particularly medical technology firms that provide lifesaving and life-extending products such as valves for heart bypasses, and robots that support surgery.

Padoa and his team manage any risk in the portfolio with great care, mindful that even great companies can experience unexpected incidents that lead to a drop in value. It’s for this reason that no single company comprises more than five or six percent of the Fund’s value, with the range of companies being purposely diverse across industry sectors to buffer against any industry-specific incidents that may lead to a drop in value.

“The Sasfin Global Equity Fund is just four years old, and has delivered a solid 9.5% performance per annum in that time,” he says. “I’m looking forward to building on that growth and achieving superior risk adjusted returns for our investors, over a long-term investment horizon, as the Fund continues to benefit from investing in businesses that themselves have long term strategies of business excellence.”