Sundaram Alternates Voyagers
Sundaram Alternates PMS | Equity | | PMSIME's View on Sundaram Alternates Voyagers
Strategy
Investment Fund
Sundaram Voyager is a reasonable investment option amongst Flexi-cap funds, having a long track record and benefiting from Sundaram's niche of South-based small & mid-cap companies.
Fund's Strategy View
Sundaram Voyager has aged well with its multi-cap, core and satellite strategy. The investment philosophy and strategy are well-defined around concentration, market-cap allocation, style, fundamentals and key themes to invest in.
Fund Performance
The fund has outperformed peers in the last 5 year trailing returns. In terms of longer-term annual performance, performance has been consistent, with the fund having outperformed it's benchmark in over 60% of annual calendar years.
IME's View on Sundaram Alternates PMS
View on AMC
Sundaram Alternates PMS is a mature provider specializing in small- and mid-cap strategies, offering differentiation compared to larger AMC-promoted PMS firms. However, like many MF-promoted PMSs, it faces structural limitations, and recent churn in the investment team raises additional concerns. While its pedigree and past performance are notable, we currently do not recommend the PMS.
AMC's Pedigree
Sundaram is a mid-sized AMC specializing in small and mid-cap investments, particularly for South India-based businesses.
AMC Team
Madanagopal, who had been with Sundaram AMC for seven years and played a key role in building its PMS division since 2018, has recently exited the firm. A replacement has not yet been identified, which raises concerns given our earlier view that investment team churn is a recurring risk at MF-driven PMS platforms, particularly where fund managers do not hold significant equity ownership.
Investment Philosophy
Investment philosophy is not clearly defined at the PMS level, but at the portfolio level, strategies are well-defined and strictly followed compared to other AMC peer PMSs.
Investment Strategy
Voyager Portfolio is a multi-cap concentrated portfolio of 20 stocks aiming to seek long-term capital appreciation by investing across market caps that are reasonably priced. Voyager follows a Core and Satellite approach.- Core Portfolio (75% allocation): Asset-light business models that have an established track record, efficient capital allocation and scalable growth opportunities | invest in structural stories
- Satellite Portfolio (25% allocation): high-growth stocks including cyclical | invest in cyclical and turnaround opportunities
Investment Philosophy
Sundaram Voyager follows a "3Q" approach to identifying investment opportunities.- Business: Seeking good businesses that generate higher cash returns and can be reinvested
- Financial: ability to double earnings in 3-5 years | Focus minimum 15% ROIC | Strong cash conversion of 50%+ | Reasonable leverage with debt to equity <0.5x
- Promoters/Management: focus on past execution track record, vision of management is, capital allocation efficiency, promoter holding and pledge, ESOPs, and contingent liability or related party transactions
Identified Investment Themes
- Consumer Discretionary: growing disposable income, rising middle-income class and demographics
- Financial Services: driven by financial inclusion and market share shift towards pvt sector
- Make In India: driven by China de-risking, labour arbitrage across sectors
- Digital Economy: driven by large internet user base, increasing online penetration, and demographics
Trailing Performance
| 1yr | 3yr | 5yr | Since Inception | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sundaram Alternates Voyagers | 4.2 | 16.4 | 22.4 | 13.8 |
| S&P BSE 500 | -6.6 | 14.7 | 19.2 | 15.6 |
| Alpha over Broad Mkt BM | 10.8 | 1.7 | 3.2 | -1.8 |
Performance as of: 30-Sep-25 | Inception Date: 01-Oct-11 | Performance are post-fees, pre-taxes. Global funds denominated in USD or fund currency.
Investment team
Karthik Athreya | 3-star rated FM
FM (Alternatives) | 27 yrs Experience
Past Experience: Altico Capital, Clearwater Capital, Rabo, Arthur Andersson, PWC, Yes Bank
Karthik Athreya is in charge of the Alternative Financing strategy at Sundaram AMC. He has almost 22 years of expertise in corporate finance, investment banking, and principal investing. Prior to this, He established Altico Capital and oversaw Clearwater Capital’s India division. He worked at Rabo, Arthur Andersson, and PWC before becoming a founding employee of Yes Bank.
