WhiteOak PMS

PMS Background

White Oak is a relatively young PMS (founded in June 2017), that has scaled in a remarkably short period of time to become one of the largest PMS houses in India. This growth is on the back of the undisputable investment pedigree of its founder Prashant Khemka – who was the former CIO & Lead Portfolio Manager of Goldman Sachs India & Emerging Market funds. These funds have won multiple global awards and accolades for consistent investment performance, making Prashant one of the leading global investors in Indian equities. Prashant has invested considerably in building up the research team at White Oak, with the research team having some of the most seasoned research analyst amongst any PMS provider in India. One of India's most respected PMS Houses Despite being very young, White Oak PMS has scaled rapidly to become one of India's largest & most respected alternative investment firms. This is on the back of the very strong pedigree of it's CIO Prashant Khemka, supplemented by the very strong processes & investment team that he has built around himself. Very strong track record of Prashant Khemka - White Oak's CIO Prior to setting up WhiteOak, Prashant Khemka operated as the CIO & Lead PM for Goldman Sachs India Equity & GEM Equity Portfolios. Prashant's performance managing these strategies has been exemplary - GS India Equity (265% returns vs 66% for benchmark, scaled to $2.5 bn) & GS GEM Equity (36.3% returns vs 13% for benchmark, scaled to $2.6 bn)

Investment Philosophy

Outsized returns are earned over time by investing in great businesses at attractive valuations

• Great Business: well managed, scalable long-term opportunity, strong returns on incremental capital, strong execution & governance track record
• Attractive Valuations: aim to identify businesses where the estimated intrinsic value is significantly different from market prices
• Focus on stocks: as compared to focusing on the macro
• Avoid businesses with red flags: poor corporate governance, weak incremental ROCEs, potential obsolescence risk
• Avoid macro-bets: view macro as a source of random risks (not as an opportunity to add alpha). Accordingly they stay fully-invested with a balanced portfolio construction approach, avoiding top-down misadventures (market timing, sector rotation)

Strong Investment Culture

White Oak's Investment Culture is driven by

• Team of local experts with global experience: strong culture of performance aligned with client portfolio
• Time Tested Processes: driven by disciplined fundamental research & a proprietary OpcoFinco analytical framework that has been honed over 2 decades
• Bottom up Stock Selection based philosophy: Buy great businesses at Attractive values | Invest in businesses, don't bet on macro
• Balanced Portfolio Construction: Aim to drive performance through stock-selection & not top-down bets on macro factors

Very strong investments team The research team that Prashant has built to support the investment process, is one of the best in the industry. The team includes 8 analysts with over a decade of experience, who are in turn supported by a 10+ member analyst team. The pedigree of the analysts are also top-notch.

Investment Process

• Universe Screening: Beginning with a large investible universe (~750 companies with a  >$150 mn mkt cap), WhiteOak narrows down the universe to what it defines as great businesses (~150), from which it invests in between 30-50 companies which it believes to be attractively valued 
• Time tested analytical framework: driven by idea generation, analysis, decision & sizing and an ongoing evaluation

Extremely robust investment philosophy & culture Prashant Khemka has essentially brought to WhiteOak the same investment rigor that allowed him to demonstrate substantial outperformance at Goldman Sachs. This is reflected in a very well articulated investment process & the experience of the research team. Suitable For Investor's looking for the more consistent and lower risk returns provided by a more diversified portfolio.