ASK Lighthouse
ASK PMS | Equity | | PMSIME's View on ASK Lighthouse
Strategy
Invests in Focussed Themes
Investment Fund
The strategy's objective of focusing on emerging themes based on structural changes without diluting the rigour of company selection makes it relatively agile compared to their other strategies. While this is a new fund, the strategy and the strong pedigree of the AMC/Team provide a solid foundation.
Fund's Strategy View
ASK Lighthouse introduces a flexible approach to thematic investing, offering adaptability to market dynamics. The strategy invests in 3-4 primary themes (across 15-30 companies) and also maintains a keen interest for others themes, enabling it to capitalize on evolving macro conditions. This flexibility allows for leveraging underlying tailwinds in the market. Presently, the focused themes include Infrastructure, Manufacturing, and Defense, strategically chosen based on their alignment with the beneficiaries of increasing capital expenditure.
Fund Performance
We refrain from evaluating the fund since it is yet to mature (less than 5 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 Strategy
ASK Lighthouse Portfolio is a sector-focused, high-conviction PMS strategy that invests in 3-4 structural themes at any given time. The strategy targets industries undergoing significant transformation with deep, long-term growth potential, dynamically shifting exposure as themes evolve.
Core Investment Approach
Theme-Based Investing with Flexibility:
- Focus on 3-4 high-growth sectors where structural changes are underway.
- Current themes: Infrastructure & Engineering, Manufacturing, Defence, Railways, Capital Goods.
- Agile management: Exits themes when most value creation is achieved.
Blend of Top-Down & Bottom-Up Stock Selection:
- Themes selected using a macroeconomic and industry analysis.
- Individual stock selection based on fundamentals, scalability, and valuation.
High-Conviction, Concentrated Portfolio:
- 15-30 stocks from the mid- and small-cap space, focusing on market leaders in niche industries.
- High sectoral concentration, allowing strong alpha generation.
Sector and Stock Rotation Strategy:
- Themes are actively rebalanced based on growth cycles and valuation saturation.
- High exposure to sectors with favorable policy tailwinds and long-term demand.
PMS Background
ASK is one of the oldest and largest PMS houses in India, having commenced operations in 1983 under the leadership of Asit Koticha. The firm has a singular focus on discretionary listed Indian equity mandates and places strong emphasis on mindset and philosophy alignment with clients. Over the years, ASK has built a reputation for disciplined execution, supported by a stable, in-house research team and a clearly defined investment process. Fund managers are typically groomed internally, ensuring continuity and consistency in philosophy and decision-making.
Investment Philosophy
The investment philosophy is anchored in a FOCUS-driven framework designed to identify high-quality businesses capable of generating sustainable long-term wealth across market cycles. The approach combines fundamental analysis, assessment of structural growth opportunities, cycle awareness, competitive strength, and valuation discipline to deliver consistent, risk-adjusted outcomes while protecting capital.
- Fundamentals: Emphasis on strong balance sheets, healthy cash flows, and consistent profitability. Focus on business quality, resilience across cycles, and disciplined capital allocation, with priority given to sustainability of returns rather than short-term earnings volatility.
- Opportunity Size & Scalability: Preference for businesses operating in large and expanding opportunity sets, supported by structural growth tailwinds and favourable industry dynamics. Focus on scalability and long-term demand visibility without excessive reliance on leverage.
- Cycles & Capital Allocation: Recognition that both markets and businesses move through cycles. Active evaluation of cycle positioning, with emphasis on management prudence during upcycles and discipline during downturns. Willingness to invest in cyclical recoveries or structural improvements where risk–reward is favourable.
- Unmatched Moats: Focus on companies with durable competitive advantages such as brand leadership, economies of scale, network effects, technology edge, or regulatory protection. Strong moats support pricing power, margin stability, and resilience to competitive disruption.
- Margin of Safety & Stewardship: Embedded risk management through valuation discipline and governance standards. Investments are made at reasonable valuations relative to intrinsic value, with strong emphasis on ethical leadership, shareholder alignment, and long-term stewardship to preserve capital while retaining upside.
In essence, the FOCUS framework integrates quality, growth, cycle awareness, competitive strength, and valuation discipline into a cohesive investment approach. By remaining anchored to business fundamentals and long-term value creation, the philosophy seeks to deliver consistent wealth creation while minimising the risk of permanent capital impairment.
Suitable For
Investors seeking exposure to high-quality businesses with an emphasis on consistency, capital protection, and long-term compounding rather than aggressive return maximisation.
Trailing Performance
| 1yr | 3yr | 5yr | Since Inception | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASK Lighthouse | -4.6 | 11 | ||
| S&P BSE 500 | 4.9 | 10.4 | ||
| Alpha over Broad Mkt BM | -9.5 | 0.6 |
Performance as of: 30-Nov-25 | Inception Date: 07-Mar-24 | 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 | 1 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)
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