Unifi BCAD AIF
Unifi PMS | Equity | | AIFIME's View on Unifi BCAD AIF
Strategy
Business Consolidation After Disruption (BCAD) Thematic Strategy
Investment Fund
Unifi BCAD is a good thematic/multi-cap strategy backed by a credible team, AMC pedigree and more than a decade of running/identifying successful themes.
Fund's Strategy View
Unifi's BCAD strategy, aims to invest in businesses that are benefiting from industry consolidation after a period of disruption. The original BCAD thematic strategy was launched in 2018 to benefit from consolidation post GST & demonetisation, and has delivered attractive returns to investors. The BCAD strategy has recently been relaunched, on the back of attractive investment opportunities emerging from regulatory changes, demographic changes, urbanisation, consumer behaviour & technology. The strategy aims to benefit from underlying consumerism growth and the immiment value migration from unorganised to organised players. The BCAD strategy has a focused investment approach towards companies & sectors that are benefiting from underlying consumerism and consolidation brought about by a variety of different disruptions. This is a mid & small-cap strategy, which fits well within Unifi's known area of expertise.
Fund Performance
We refrain from evaluating the fund since it is yet to mature (less than 5 years).
IME's View on Unifi PMS
View on AMC
Unifi's unique thematic investment approach and experienced in-house team have positioned them as a leading player in the PMS market, allowing them to successfully deliver consistent results across various strategies and achieve significant growth.
AMC's Pedigree
Since its founding in 2001 by Sarath Reddy, Unifi has grown into a leading PMS player in India - impressively, without the backing of a big broker, AMC, or a star fund manager. It’s a testament to Reddy’s sharp entrepreneurial drive. Now, with the launch of its own mutual fund and GIFT City platforms, Unifi is taking further strides in institutionalising its business.
AMC Team
Unifi's investment team is made up of individuals with limited prior investment expertise, but they have developed strong in-house research capabilities and a consistent process. This stability has allowed them to create their own unique investment style, with Sarath Reddy playing the key role as CIO driving investment decisions.
Investment Philosophy
Unifi has traditionally focused on a thematic investment style, with the launching of specific thematic funds at different points in time (this includes funds like Event Arbitrage, Delisting, Insider Shadow, Sector Trends, Deep Value, Holdco, SpinOff, APJ 20 and BCAD). As the firm scaled, they have shifted their focus away for pure closed-ended thematic funds, towards an open-ended Rangoli strategy that encompasses stocks across the 7 major themes Unifi has invested in the past (making it now more comparable to a flexi-cap strategy, as compared to pure thematic investing).
Investment Strategy
Unifi Capital’s Business Consolidations After Disruptions (BCAD)AIF invests in leaders in business segments that have numerous fragmented players. These businesses are well placed to leverage the disruptions to gain market share and create value for their investors. The BCAD fund has been structured to benefit from the imminent migration of market share from unorganized segments to organized players on the back of disruptions caused by demographics, regulatory changes, consumer behavior, urbanization, and technology.
Strong Thematic Strategy Unifi's BCAD AIF aims to benefit from the ongoing consolidation and formalisation of many fragmented industries. Multiple drivers such as regulatory (GST, IBC Process, RERA), technology and consumer trends (shift towards branded players) continue to provide strong visibility of the same, benefitting strong companies.Core Investment Approach
Identifying Structural Shifts:
- Formalization of the economy driven by GST, demonetization, and digital adoption.
- Increased consumer preference for branded, organized players across various sectors.
- Financialization of savings shifting household wealth from physical to financial assets.
Bottom-Up Stock Selection:
- Companies with consistent volume growth, operating leverage, and capital efficiency.
- Focus on market share consolidation, premiumization, and cost leadership.
- Strong governance standards – eliminating firms with poor capital allocation history.
High-Growth, Buy-and-Hold Strategy:
- Targets long-term wealth creation while maintaining flexibility to reallocate capital.
- Invests at reasonable valuations, with a long runway for growth.
Sector-Agnostic Approach:
- Invests across consumer, financials, IT, healthcare, infrastructure, and manufacturing.
- Key themes: Roti, Kapda, Makaan + Financialization and Services.
Trailing Performance
| 1yr | 3yr | 5yr | Since Inception | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unifi BCAD AIF | -4.3 | 12.88 | 19.1 | 14.4 |
| S&P BSE 500 | -6.6 | 14.7 | 19.2 | 13.9 |
| Alpha over Broad Mkt BM | 2.3 | -1.8 | -0.1 | 0.5 |
Performance as of: 30-Sep-25 | Inception Date: 01-Aug-22 | Performance are post-fees, pre-taxes. Global funds denominated in USD or fund currency.
Investment team
Sarath K Reddy | 5-star rated FM
CIO | 36 yrs Experience | 24 yrs at current firm
Past Experience: Navia Markets (MD), Stan C (Manager)
Having started his career with Standard Chartered Bank, Sarath founded Unifi Capital in 2001 and has since built the company into one of the leading PMS providers in India. As CIO, he works closely with his investment team to deliver outperformance on Unifi PMS strategies.
Baidik Sarkar | 4-star rated FM
Fund Manager | 19 yrs Experience | 18 yrs at current firm
Past Experience: Unifi (Corporate Finance), PWC (Strategy Consultant)
Baidik has been with Unifi for over a decade, with core responsibilities of research in the IT, real-estate and the agricultural sectors and assisting the CIO in managing the spin-off and APJ funds.
Saravanan V N | 4-star rated FM
Fund Manager | 26 yrs Experience | 19 yrs at current firm
Past Experience: Unifi (Corporate Finance), ICICI Bank (Credit Manager), PWC (Article Assistant)
Saravanan has been with Unifi for over a decade, with primary responsibilities of tracking pharmaceuticals, NBFC, and domestic debt markets. He has a specific specilisation in debt securities and identifying arbitrage opportunities.
