Once its homeland lost polecat status, South African-born Investec became one of the earliest companies to globalise. Its strategy was to establish a solid base in London, with much of its early growth achieved through buying up in funds management businesses. A couple decades later and the fruits of that approach are well documented – Investec Asset Management continues to grow its market share in London by competing effectively against some of the largest money management firms on earth. Its portfolio managers often move between the company’s London and Cape Town offices, but the case of Abrie Pretorius is unusual. With over half of his fund’s money invested in US-headquartered companies, Pretorius relocated, instead, to New York – and explains why in our wide-ranging discussion which includes insights into his favourite stocks, the “Amazonisation” of retailing and why a fifth of his portfolio is entrusted in shares of cigarette makers. – Alec Hogg Abrie Pretorius, Investec This special podcast is brought to you by Investec Asset Management. Abrie Pretorius is with Investec Asset Management, based in New York. Abrie, most of your team is in Cape Town and London. What are you doing over in the U.S.? Alec, it’s nice to speak to you. Yes, I recently relocated to New York. While our office has been here for over ten years, we’ve got a fairly small investment presence here now with around three investment professionals. The particular reason why I moved is really, because most of our assets and stocks is listed in the U.S. As you might know, a big proportion of our quality capability in terms of our research process is to be bottom-up and really engaging with the companies that we own. It just makes life easier to be on the ground and to really engage […]
