Birla AMC PMS
PMSIME's View on Birla AMC PMS
AMC View
Birla AMC PMS faces challenges common to large MF-driven PMS firms, such as PMS being treated as an add-on rather than a separate business, high turnover in the investment team, lack of commitment from the CIO, and vague investment strategies. Despite the distribution advantages of the AMC and research resources, MF-driven PMSs usually do not match the success of CIO-led PMS firms.
AMC Pedigree
Birla AMC is a top-5 Asset Manager in India known for managing mutual fund assets. While being part of a larger asset management house offers synergy benefits, their pedigree in AMC-driven PMS falls short compared to investor-cum-promoter driven PMS's with stable investment teams and defined processes.
Team Pedigree
Birla PMS has a moderately experienced investment team with synergies from the senior Mutual Fund team. The team has been stable but changes may occur as it is not promoter-driven.
Investment Philosophy
The investment philosophy is vaguely defined, allowing fund managers flexibility to invest in various sectors and styles.
PMS Background
As part of one of the top-5 Mutual Fund Houses, Birla AMC PMS benefits from the substantial research, broker & corporate access and distribution strengths of the Mutual Fund. AMC Driven PMS Birla AMC benefits from the substantial research, broker & corporate access and distribution strengths of the Mutual Fund, but since PMS is add-on to its business unit they have a higher churn in the investment team, a lack of skin in the game for the CIO and typically loosely defined investment philosophies.PMS Investment Philosophy
Investment Tenets
- Sustainable growth over long-term in select industries
- Focus on businesses and sectors that consistently create value through favourable industry operating conditions
- Quantitative Screeners backed by fundamental research
- Value investing approach to generate alpha.
Investment Approach
Top-down and Bottom-up Approach The strategy uses both top-down and bottom-up approaches to identify 'recurring winners' and 'mispriced' companies respectively to build a portfolio of 25-30 companies. Top-Down Top-down approach focuses on identifying recurring winners that have consistently created value. The philosophy identifies sectors that grow faster than the GDP. Companies that are identified through top-down approach operate in favourable industries and have the potential for consistent profitability (reflecting in return ratios such as ROEs and ROCEs) Bottom-Up Bottom-up approach is used to identify misprice companies and buy them at a discount to the fundamental value. This approach uses pitroski score and focusses on extensive fundamental research (company strategy, management and execution)Investment Process
- Track the Investment Universe on a monthly basis (by applying Quantitative Screeners & IP) tracking [Recurring Winner, Piotronski Score, ROE & D/E Filters]
- Reject 80% of the companies which do not filter through the screeners. (using an Extensive Fundamental Research) by checking [Management meetings, Dealer/channel checks, Plant/ Factory visits]
- Around half of remaining companies pass this filter (Value investing & Portfolio optimisation) looking at [Valuation Screener, Potential upside of 100% in 3-4 years]
- Select 25-30 quality companies with high growth and potential upside.
Investment team
Sameer Narayan | 2-star rated FM
Head | 24 yrs Experience | 5 yrs at current firm
Past Experience: SVP-Adani Advisory
Sameer has more than 20 years of experience in Indian equity markets. In his role as Principal Officer, Sameer will be responsible for the PMS division within the firm. His last assignment was with Adani Advisory LLP as Sr. Vice President where he established the Family Office and was responsible for advising investments in Indian equities. In the past, he has also worked with BNP Paribas Investments managing onshore and offshore funds under Portfolio Management Services. Sameer has also worked with SSKI, Enam Securities and Motilal Oswal in the Research Function. He holds Masters in Management Studies (MMS) from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai and B.E degree with specialization in Production Engineering.
Salvin Shah | 2-star rated FM
FM | 15 yrs Experience | 4 yrs at current firm
Past Experience: Sanctum, Edelweiss Securities & Athena Investment Management
Salvin Shah has 10+ years in Portfolio Management and Equity Research, He has extensive experience in managing Indian Equities. He has been successful at identifying themes and stocks at a very early stage which has resulted in multi-bagger returns for the investors. Prior to joining Aditya Birla AMC, he worked with Sanctum Wealth Management as Co-fund Manager in their PMS business. Before Sanctum, Salvin was a part of equity research team at Edelweiss Securities and Athena Investment Management.
