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Marcellus Kings of Capital

AUM (239 cr) | Inc Date (28-July-2020)

Scheme Rating

IME Scheme Rating

3 of 5 stars

We typically do not recommend Thematic funds to investors, since it requires getting in and out of the theme at the right time. Typically a strong contra approach (investing in themes when they are out of favour, and getting out when they are popular) leads to better performance, but this is very hard to actually implement in practice given strong behavioural instincts against such an approach (investors often end up entering themes post a run-up, which can often be the worst time to invest). In our view, thematic funds are primarily suitable for more astute investors who have a deep underlying understanding of the investment merits of the theme.

IME Strategy Rating

3 of 5 stars

It is a concentrated approach (10-15 companies) with Laser-focused on the Financial Sector on the back of a very strong rationale for the same. Marcellus’s strong focus on clean accounting, corporate governance, capital allocation, and barriers to entry help mitigate many of the normal risks while investing in the finance sector, which makes this an interesting investment option for investors willing to take on a higher level of risk.

AMC Rating

3 of 5 stars

AMC: Marcellus PMS (click link for detailed AMC review)

Marcellus offers strong investment options for those interested in high quality companies, but their lack of flexibility in investment approach hinders performance across market conditions. Recent weak performance and limited portfolio repositioning capabilities contribute to lower ratings for the seasoned investment team.

PMS Scheme Ratings are driven by IME’s Proprietary Scheme Rating Methodology, which takes into account our ratings of the Scheme’s investment strategy, its maturity, the investment team, and our separate rating on the AMC that runs this particular scheme. Our views on each of these individual criteria are available via the IME RMS – which you can view by reaching out to one of our relationship managers (using either the live chat or book appointment feature on this site).

Investment Strategy

Key objective of “Kings of Capital” strategy is to own a portfolio of 10-14 high-quality Financial companies that have good corporate governance, prudent capital allocation and high barriers to entry.

Portfolio Construction

King of Capital Portfolio will span the entire financial services sector:

  • Lenders: long track record of prudent credit underwriting, smart capital allocation and good corporate governance
  • Life Insurers: large distribution footprint, customer-centric product innovation and an effective actuarial risk management framework
  • General Insurers: focus on long term profitability and return on equity and a track record of conservative underwriting across cycles
  • Asset Managers/brokers: moated business models and strong pricing power

Investment Philosophy

The three tenets of Kings of Capital remain the same:

  1. Clean accounting and good corporate governance;
  2. Historical evidence of prudent capital allocation; and
  3. High barriers to entry so that companies are able to sustainably generate return on capital higher than cost of capital.

INVESTMENT PROCESS

  • Universe: 95 financial companies in the universe
  • Forensic Accounting Screen: eliminating companies with sub-par accounting to get to 65 companies
  • Use Proprietary Capital Allocation Models: detailed analysis of annual reports and published financials to get to 23 companies
  • Channel checks and Management Meetings: with the remaining 23 companies

Trailing Performance

1yr 3yr 5yr Since Inception
Marcellus Kings of Capital 20 8.6 11.7
S&P BSE 500 4.8 12.3 18.7
Alpha over Broad Mkt BM 15.2 -3.7 -7
S&P BSE 500 4.8 12.3
Alpha over Category BM 15.2 -3.7

Performance as of: 31-Mar-25 | Inception Date: 28-Jul-20

Fund Managers

Rakshit Ranjan | 5-star rated FM

Fund Manager | 21 yrs Experience | 6 yrs at current firm

Past Experience: Ambit Capital (FM), Lloyds Banking (Director Research), Noble & Co (Analyst)

Rakshit has a strong investment management track record, having launched Ambit’s Coffee-Can PMS in Mar-17, which he ran till Dec-18. The Coffee-Can PMS was one of the best-performing PMS schemes in 2018. Prior to setting up the Coffee-Can PMS, Rakshit was the lead consumer analyst at Ambit. His earlier experience was in UK equities at the Lloyds & Noble groups.

Saurabh Mukherjea | 5-star rated FM

Founder & CIO | 27 yrs Experience | 7 yrs at current firm

Past Experience: Ambit Capital (CEO), Noble (Head of India Equities), Accenture (Consultant), London Economics (Consultant)

Saurabh comes with a very strong investments background, having helped build Ambit’s broking, wealth & investment management businesses as CEO. He was also responsible for building Execution Nobles India broking business (which was sold to Ambit) and having set up and sold Clear Capital (a UK based small cap research fund). Saurabh is a strong believer in investing in the long-term in very high quality clean businesses and has written a number of books including Gurus of Chaos, The Unusual Billionaires and Coffee Can Investing.

Fee Structure

Fee Structure Fee
Fixed Fee Structure 2.5
Variable Fee Structures 1.5% fixed + 15% above 10% hurdle
Exit Fees

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