ASK Growth
ASK PMS | Equity | | PMSIME's View on ASK Growth
Strategy
Conservative Large & Midcap
Investment Fund
ASK Growth is one of the very few PMS strategies in India with a 20+ year track record. With a focus on large & mid-caps, this is a more conservative investment approach, suitable for investors with a lower risk-appetitie. While longer-term performance of the strategy has been very strong, performance since 2022 has been very weak (partly driven by the strong outperformance of small-caps, which ASK Growth has very limited exposures to). The lower 3-star rating on one of India's oldest funds from a highly pedigreed manager reflects this sharp underperformance post 2022.
Fund's Strategy View
Focuses on investing in established companies having large opportunity sizes, and ensuring all investee companies have high earnings growth, business & management quality, and attractive price-value gap. The portfolio is diversified and focuses on the multi-cap. With a 20+ year track record ASK Growth is one of the oldest PMS strategies in the market. The strategy has deliveried consistent & attractive risk-adjusted returns over an extended period of time. ASK Growth also offers superior risk-adjusted returns than small & mid cap strategies, given ASK's focus on large & mid-caps (over small-caps)
Fund Performance
The fund has underperformed peers & is amongst the worst performing schemes in this category in the last 5 year trailing returns. In terms of longer-term annual performance, performance consistency has been mixed, with the fund having outperformed & underperformed the bechmark roughly in half the years.
IME's View on ASK PMS
View on AMC
ASK is the market leader with a strong investment policy and in-house team. Blackstone acquired a majority stake in their asset management business. Their rating has been downgraded to 4-star due to recent underperformance, but an upgrade to 5-star is possible as performance improves.
AMC's Pedigree
ASK is a leading PMS provider known for delivering sustainable long-term returns with minimal risk. Post Blackstone acquiring a majority stake in ASK in 2022, ASK is now a blackstone company.
AMC Team
Led by Bharat Shah, ASK has a strong and stable investment team which focuses on developing fund managers from their research team aligned with ASK's investment philosophy. While ASK recently lost their long-term CIO Prateek Agarwal to Motilal in Oct-22, they have been able to fill this vacancy with George Joseph joining as the CIO while Sumit Jain (the interim CIO when Prateek left) continuing to play the role of a deputy CIO.
Investment Philosophy
Traditionally ASK followed a GARP investment philosophy (focusing on buying high-qualty businesses, with consistent earnings growth available at the right price). Under George Joseph, this philosophy has been tightened into what they call their FOCUS Philosophy (F - Fundamentals, O - Opportunity Size & Scale, C - Cycles & Capital Allocation, U - Unmatched Moats, S - Safety). The aim is to follow a fundamental-investment philosophy (F - Fundamentals) focused on high-quality companies (U - Unmatched moats) with attractive growth potential (O - Opportunity size) and available at the right valuations (S - Safety), while being aware of underlying business & market cycles (C - Cycles & Capital Allocation).
Investment Philosophy
The ASK Growth portfolio focuses on investing in well-established companies that have a large ‘size of opportunity’, while ensuring that all investee companies have a high level of earnings growth, business & management quality and an attractive price-value gap.
ASK’s investment philosophy revolves around 2 key aspects: capital protection followed by capital appreciation. The aim is to invest in high-quality businesses, run by high-quality management with sustained long-term growth prospects at a reasonable price. The focus is on certainty & consistency of earnings (vs. mere quantum of earnings growth) & buying high quality at a reasonable price (vs. buying mediocre companies at value prices).
KEY ASPECTS OF INVESTMENT PHILOSOPHY
Investments in ASK Growth Portfolio are driven by the following key investment attributes:
- Size of Opportunity: Size of Pond vs. Size of Fish, Dominance, Resilience, Liquidity
- Quality of Business: High quality of business (superior ROCE), Strong moat, Impregnability, Sustainability, Key pivot of strong wealth creation
- Earnings Growth: Quantum, Consistency, Durability, Predating (early vs later), Compounding power
- Value: Favourable price-value gap, Margin of Safety
- Management Quality: Good management quality is a given constant
Investment Process
- Market Capitalization Filter: Filter top 500 stocks as per market capitalization
- PBT Filter: 299 Companies with PBT above 200crs for trailing 4 quarters.
- Management Quality Assessment: Filter 150 based on evaluation of management integrity, vision, execution, capital allocation skills and capital distribution
- ROCE & Earnings Growth Criteria: Filter 59 stocks with minimum 25% ROCE and minimum 15% earnings growth over the next 3-5 years.
- Overall Quality with Margin of Safety: 20-25 stocks with an optimal blend of overall characteristics and a minimum Margin of Safety of 15%.
Trailing Performance
| 1yr | 3yr | 5yr | Since Inception | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASK Growth | -10.8 | 6.9 | 13.8 | 17.8 |
| S&P BSE 500 | -6.6 | 14.7 | 19.2 | 15.3 |
| Alpha over Broad Mkt BM | -4.2 | -7.8 | -5.4 | 2.5 |
Performance as of: 30-Sep-25 | Inception Date: 29-Jan-01 | Performance are post-fees, pre-taxes. Global funds denominated in USD or fund currency.
Investment team
Bharat Shah | 5-star rated FM
Executive Director | 34 yrs Experience | 18 yrs at current firm
Past Experience: Senior FM (Birla MF)
Bharat Shah is a highly respected investments professional, having overseen the growth of ASK PMS to the largest PMS in India over 2 decades. Prior to joining ASK, Bharat Shah was a very well respected equity fund manager at Birla PMS, known for large wealth creation in IT picks. Bharat Shah has been on the board of ASK since 2008.
George Heber Joseph | 4-star rated FM
CIO | 23 yrs Experience | 0 yrs at current firm
Past Experience: JIO BlackRock (CIO), ITI MF (CIO), ICICI Pru (Sr. FM)
George Heber Joseph has been appointed as the new CIO of ASK PMS, bringing with him over 20 years of extensive investment management experience. He played a key role in establishing Jio BlackRock AMC, where he served as CIO, and previously spent more than a decade at ICICI Prudential AMC, managing over USD 2 billion in assets across equity strategies. He has also held leadership roles at ITI AMC. George is a Chartered Accountant and a Management Accountant, with a strong track record in building and managing high-performing investment teams and portfolios.
Sumit Jain | 4-star rated FM
Deputy CIO | 20 yrs Experience | 20 yrs at current firm
Past Experience: First Global (Analyst)
Sumit has been with the ASK group for over 15 years, having started as an analyst to now being responsible for managing portfolios. Prior to joining ASK, Sumit worked as an analyst at First Global tracking the US macroeconomy and the FMCG sector.
Sandip Bansal | 3-star rated FM
Deputy CIO | 22 yrs Experience | 4 yrs at current firm
Past Experience: FM & Head Investment Research (SBI Life), Sell-side Research Analyst (UBS, KIE)
Sandip has 20 years of work experiene (14 of which have been in equity research). Sandip has a strong research & fund management experience, having worked as Fund Manager & Head of Research at SBI Life Insurance prior to joining ASK. Prior to SBI Life, Sandip worked at the sell side with UBS & Kotak Securities. Sandip in a CA and an MBA (IIM-A)
