Unlike Mutual Funds, where SEBI has come out with clear guidelines of % allocation towards large, mid & small-caps between different fund categories, no such clear guidelines exist in the case of PMS & AIF Funds. This can lead to confusion for investors, since 2 funds both defined as multi-cap or market-cap agnostic, may have very different allocations towards large, mid & small-cap companies.
In order to address this issue, at IME Capital we have broken down the multi-cap category, into 3 sub-categories – (a) Large & Mid-cap (b) Flexicap (c) Mid & Small-cap. All PMS’s with a multi-cap approach, are slotted into one of these 3 sub-categories (based on actual portfolio compositions being followed), in order to provide a more like-to-like comparisons.
Top Large & Mid-Cap PMS/AIFs
IMEs Large & Mid-cap PMS category
Comprises schemes that have a minimal exposure to small-caps. The risk on such strategies are accordingly considerably less, than flexi-cap or mid & small cap strategies, where small-cap exposures can lead to higher volatility.
| Scheme | Segment | About |
| AlfAccurate – AAA Focus | Pedigreed | Highly Diversified | Founded by Rajesh Kothari, Alfaccurate run amongst the most diversified PMS strategies in the market (resulting in substantially lower risk). What makes this scheme particularly attractive, is the consistent outperformance that has been demonstrated by taking on minimal additional risk (relative to mutual funds). |
| ASK Growth & ASK India Entrepreneur Portfolio (IEP) | Pedigreed | Concentrated | ASK Large & Mid-cap strategies are the largest PMS schemes in the market. Backed by a very strong 20+ year track record, a stable investment team and consistency in the investment process over a long-period of time. |
| Enam India Vision | Pedigreed | Concentrated | Enam Vision is a new strategy (launched in Jan-23), but with a high degree of similarity with Enam’s more matured Diversified Equity Strategy. |
| Carnelian Compounder | Pedigreed | Concentrated | A well-defined, fairly concentrated strategy that works well across market conditions as it retains flexibility in investing style. |
| Green Lantern Alpha | Pedigreed | Concentrated | Green Lantern Alpha is a concentrated Large & Mid-cap strategy, from a PMS team of senior experienced fund managers. While a relatively newer strategy, the performance has been strong and the team comes with a strong past pedigree. |
Top Flexi-Cap PMS/AIFs
IMEs Flexi-cap category
Comprises schemes that have allocations to large, mid & small-caps and schemes that retain the flexibility of shifting allocations between these 3 market-cap segments. The risk on these strategies is higher than the large & mid-cap category, but this is typically compensated by the potential for higher returns driven by small-cap allocations.
| Scheme | Segment | About |
| AlfAccurate – IOP | Pedigreed | Highly Diversified | Founded by Rajesh Kothari, Alfaccurate run amongst the most diversified PMS strategies in the market (resulting in substantially lower risk). What makes this scheme particularly attractive, is the consistent outperformance that has been demonstrated by taking on minimal additional risk (relative to mutual funds). |
| White Oak – India Pioneers PMS, White Oak – India Equity AIF | New Star-FM Led | Highly Diversified | Backed by arguably one of the strongest investment teams in India (Prashant Khemka’s Goldman pedigree + very strong research team), White Oak strategies are typically highly-diversified (helping reduce risk) and have yet been able to deliver outperformance. While the strategies are relatively new, we draw substantial comfort of the pedigree of the investment team & the underlying investment processes (both of which may be considered to be best-in-class). |
| Abakkus All Cap PMS | New Star-FM Led | Concentrated | Founded by Sunil Singhania (ex Nippon-CIO), Abakkus has a value/contra bent and prefer to invest in companies before they become ‘market-favourites’. The strategies have performed very well since inception, and while the longer-term track still needs to be established, the quality of the investment team (strong pedigree beyond Sunil Singhania) & the investment philosophy make these attractive funds to be investing in. |
| Buoyant Capital Opportunities | Dynamic | Concentrated | Buoyant Opportunities investment starts with a premise that ‘One investment formula cannot work in all market cycles’. The aim is to try to understand the underlying market-cycle (further broken down into market-cap cycles, sectoral cycles, investment style or even stock cycles) and position the portfolio accordingly based on what parts of the market are expected to outperform. The portfolio accordingly is highly flexible & dynamic. |
| Sameeksha India Equity | Dynamic | Concentrated | Sameeksha’s Equity Fund is a concentrated (15-30 stock), Flexi-cap strategy (ability to move across market capitalizations) that follows a GARP (Growth at the Right Price) approach to investing. The strategy allows for more aggressive cash calls based on market views, and hedging of the portfolio (based on client consent) in case of expected market declines. |
| Valentis Multi-Cap | Value-Focus | Concentrated | Valentis follow a 3 “U” Philosophy – aiming to buy stocks that are undervalued, underperforming and under-owned. The portfolio is positioned to have 20-40% exposure to large-cap companies outside of their typically small and mid-cap focus. |
| New Star-FM lead | Concentrated |
While a relatively newer AMC, IIFL has delivered consistent performance in it’s multi-cap strategy. Having recently substantially invested in it’s investment team (Anup Maheshwari joining as CIO, Prashasta in research), IIFL Multi-cap has a good combination of strong investment team, a clearly defined investment philosophy and good performance of its strategies. |
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| Unifi Rangoli | Thematic | Concentrated | Rangoli Fund cherry-picks the best opportunities from across seven themes that Unifi manages — Spin-off, Deep Value, Hold Co, APJ20, Green, Insider Shadow, and BCAD. The portfolio is likely to have around 15-20 holdings in the strategy. Unifi Rangoli is a good thematic/multi-cap strategy backed by a credible team, AMC pedigree and more than a decade of running/identifying successful themes. |
| Stallion Core | Flexi Cap | GARP | Stallion has recently crossed the 5-yr mark since inception. The fund has been able to demonstrate consistent performance on their momentum based investment approach. We accordingly recommend the fund to investors with higher risk appetite given the investment philosophy and the higher churn in the portfolio. |
Top Mid & Small-cap PMS/AIFs
IMEs Mid & Small-cap category
These are strategies where the majority of investments typically are in the small & mid-cap space, with a limited (20% or less) allocation towards large-caps. Some of these funds are often classified as multi-cap by the firm/other platforms, but given a relatively low share of large-caps the risk-rewards are clearly on the higher side relative to pure flexi-cap/multi-cap funds.
| Scheme | Segment | About |
| AlfAccurate Budding Beasts | Pedigreed | Highly Diversified | Founded by Rajesh Kothari, Alfaccurate run amongst the most diversified PMS strategies in the market (resulting in substantially lower risk). Given higher risks in the mid & smallcap space, a more diversified approach towards this segment has clear merit. While this is a relatively new strategy (2021 inception), the core IOP portfolio has a fair share in the mid & smallcap space, and this is simply an extension of existing skill sets of the investment team. |
| ValueQuest Growth | Pedigreed | Highly Concentrated | ValueQuest Growth is a concentrated multi-cap strategy with an investment horizon of 3-5 years for companies. Focus is on absolute returns driven by fundamentally sound companies as per ValueQuest framework. A combination of a strong investment team, a decades track record, a clearly defined investment philosophy and a high level of concentration make this a good option for investors seeking concentrated exposures in mid & small-caps. |
| Abakkus Emerging Opportunities PMS & AIF | New Star-FM Led | Diversified | Founded by Sunil Singhania (ex Nippon-CIO), Abakkus has a value/contra bent and prefer to invest in companies before they become ‘market-favourites’. The strategies have performed very well since inception, and while the longer-term track still needs to be established, the quality of the investment team (strong pedigree beyond Sunil Singhania) & the investment philosophy make these attractive funds to be investing in. |
| Unifi BCAD | Pedigreed | Concentrated | Unifi BCAD is a good thematic/multi-cap strategy backed by a credible team, AMC pedigree and more than a decade of running/identifying successful themes. |
| Green Lantern Growth | Pedigreed | Concentrated | Green Lantern Growth is a concentrated Mid & Small-cap strategy, from a PMS team of senior experienced fund managers. While a relatively newer strategy, the performance has been strong and the team comes with a strong past pedigree. |
| Carnelian Shift | Flexible | Concentrated | Carnelian Shift is a strategy aimed at identifying investment opportunities in manufacturing and technology. While Carnelian is a relatively young AMC, they are backed by experienced finance professionals albeit ones that lack a public track record of fund management and a good start to performance in the PMS. |
Top Small-cap PMS/AIFs
IMEs Small-cap category
Smallcaps clearly have the highest potential returns, given a large universe of relatively undiscovered companies and the greatest room for a small company to scale (relative to large-caps). This is however also a segment with the highest volatility in stock prices, stocks with low liquidity, often relatively under-developed corporate governance standards and business models that may not yet be fully developed. This category is accordingly suitable primarily for investors with a high risk-appetite and a willingness to deal with higher levels of volatility.
| Scheme | Segment | About |
| Equirus Long Horizon | Small-cap Specialist | Concentrated | Equirus has been one of the strongest & most-consistent performers amongst small-cap funds. Backed by a broker known as a small-cap specialist and with a strong fund manager that has been with the fund since inception, Equirus Long Horizon has the pedigree & track-record to be considered amongst the best small-cap funds in the market. |
| Accuracap Picopower | Quant-Based | Accuracap has a highly differentiated investment strategy, focused on quantitative algorithms & machine-learning. These algorithms help identify market pricing inefficiencies to identify good investment opportunities. Since the smallcap space is relatively poorly covered by institutional brokers, a quant-strategy that can filter through a large universe can throw up some interesting investment options. Importantly, the strategy has withstood the test-of-time having delivered outperformance with a high level of consistency over the past decade. |
| Nine Rivers Aurum Smallcap Opportunities | PE-style | Concentrated | Nine Rivers follows a private-equity (long-term buy & hold, deep research, concentration) style investment approach for investing in listed small-cap companies. An investment team from a private equity background, aids credibility to this strategy along with a 8+ year track record of relatively consistent outperformance. |
| Valentis Rising Star Opportunity | Value-Focus | Concentrated | Valentis ‘Rising Stars Opportunity’ is a small & mid-cap focussed value strategy. The strategy has categorically defined and focuses on the 500-10,000 cr market cap companies. Valentis follow a 3 “U” Philosophy – aiming to buy stocks that are undervalued, underperforming and under-owned. Strong value focus (undervalued, underperforming & under-owned stocks) is a core differentiator and is well articulated. |