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Abakkus PMS

PMS Rating

IME PMS Rating

5 of 5 stars

Strong FM-Founded AMC and Team: While Abakkus is still a relatively young AMC, it has a number of things going for it - it's founder Sunil Singhania is an industry vetran (ex-CIO of Nippon MF), they have a very clearly defined investment philosophy and performance of their funds have been strong since inception. This accordingly leads to a strong 5-star rating for what is yet a relatiely younger firm.

The PMS/AIF AMC Rating is derived on the basis of our analysis on 5 key qualitative parameters that we use to analyse the quality of a PMS/AIF Provider. These include an assessment of the size of the AMC, the pedigree of the AMC, the pedigree of the team, the value of the investment philosophy & the level of differentiation. These insights of our central research team are documented in the IME RMS, and can be accessed during a consultation call with an IME PMS specialist.

PMS Background

Discretionary AUM (9354cr) | Promoter Category ()

AMC Background

Abakkus Asset Manager is a relatively new AMC in India established in 2018. The AMC was set up by Sunil Singhania, ex-CIO of Reliance Nippon AMC, with 2 decades of experience in the market with a focus on small-caps.  The AMC has since scaled up very well on the back of the established track record of the team at Abakkus including Sunil Singhania, and the performance of the funds at the current firm. 

Investment Philosophy

The philosophy is driven by a bottom-up approach with a very strong focus on balance sheets and earnings. Each investment opportunity is based on individual merit rather than the theme or style.

Tenets of Investment Philosophy

  • Focus on Alpha Generators: Abakkus focuses on three aspects to generate alpha. Identify ‘growth companies’, where profitability is higher than the market average, value defined as fundamentally under-priced with reasonable growth expectations, and mid-cap with scalable businesses that have the potential to become large-cap in nature.
  • Contrarian in nature: prefers to the first, early and/or only investors in the identified companies.
  • Buy-and-hold: Invest in businesses as a partner than a stock-picker
  • Risk-reward: focus on the price and value derived by looking at ‘what is in the price?’

Abakkus’s MEETS Framework

  • Management (M): Evaluation based on capital allocation track record and fairness to minority shareholders
  • Earnings (E): Quality of earnings, cyclical or structural in nature and ability to double profits in 4 years or less or where EV/EBITDA can half in 4 years
  • Events/Trends (E): Evaluation of events on the horizon or disruptive trends/new themes
  • Timing (T): driven by the principle of ‘good company is not necessarily a good investment if the price is not right’. Focus on ‘what is the price discounting’ and time horizon of the investment.
  • Structural (S): Size of the opportunity, competitive moat and consistent growth in profits.

Avoid the Four C’s

  • Chase Momentum: let fundamentals drive our investment decision rather than price movements
  • Churn unnecessarily: No trading. No needless churning of the portfolio
  • Copy and Mimic: will not be influenced by ‘herd mentality’.
  • Credit Risk – Fractured Balance Sheet: very difficult to rebuild a broken balance sheet and these stocks eventually turn value traps and hence, are best avoided

Exit Strategy

  • Fundamentals don’t pan out as expected due to sector deterioration, company-specific issues, and governance issues.
  • Stocks may do much better than expected.
  • Position becomes insignificant and can’t /don’t want to add.
  • New investment idea better than existing holding in terms of risk-reward.

Inv Team

Investment Team

Sunil Singhania | 5-star rated FM

Founder | 30 yrs Experience | 7 yrs at current firm

Past Experience: CIO (Reliance Capital), Director – Research and Institutional Sales (Advani Share Brokers)

Sunil Singhania comes with ~3 decades of rich experience. He was a CIO at Reliance Capital for over 20 years before starting Abakkus. Prior to Abakkus, in his role as Global Head ‚ Equities at Reliance Capital Ltd., he oversaw equity assets and provided strategic inputs across Reliance Capital Group of companies including asset management, insurance, AIF, and offshore assets. And as CIO ‚ Equities, Singhania led Reliance Mutual Fund equity schemes.Furthermore, he led Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd.’s international efforts and was instrumental in launching India funds in Japan, South Korea, and the UK, besides managing mandates from institutional investors based in the US, Singapore, and other countries. He is a CA rank holder and a CFA charter holder and graduated in commerce from Mumbai University.

Aman Chowhan | 4-star rated FM

Fund Manager | 24 yrs Experience | 6 yrs at current firm

Past Experience: Portfolio Manager (Reliance Capital), Equity Analyst (Reliance MF, TAIB Securities, Tata TD Waterhouse Securities)

Aman Chowhan comes with 2 decades of experience in the equity markets. Prior to joining Abakkus, he was Portfolio Manager for all local and offshore schemes for the PMS division of Reliance Asset Management. Having worked at the Singapore office of Reliance, Aman brings along a regional and global perspective in investing and has a strong track record across ‚ benchmark, absolute long, and long-short strategies. Before joining Reliance in 2005 he was associated as a research analyst with TAIB securities, Tata TD Waterhouse, and other brokerage firms. Aman holds an MBA degree from Mumbai University.

PMS/AIF Schemes

PMS & Listed Equity AIF Schemes

Scheme Category Style 1 yr 3 yr 5 yr Since Inc
Abakkus Emerging Opportunities Mid & Smallcap GARP 37.2 24.1 39.5
Abakkus All Cap Flexi Cap GARP 31 19.1 33.6

Returns as of 30-Sep-24.

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