White Oak Pioneers Equity

Investment Philosophy

Invest in a diversified basket of 30-50 great businesses that are available at an attractive price.

• Great Business: well managed, scalable long-term opportunity, strong returns on incremental capital, strong execution & governance track record
• Attractive Valuations: aim to identify businesses where the estimated intrinsic value is significantly different from market prices
• Focus on stocks: as compared to focusing on the macro
• Avoid businesses with red flags: poor corporate governance, weak incremental ROCEs, potential obsolescence risk

INVESTMENT PROCESS

• Avoid misgovernance: White Oak aims to avoid misgoverned companies by recognizing various forms of misgovernance such as companies cheating existing promoters, cheating investors, unethical or illegal business administration processes, misaligned interests or objectives and poor accounting.
• Universe Screening: Beginning with a large investible universe (~750 companies with a  >$150 mn mkt cap), WhiteOak narrows down the universe to what it defines as great businesses (~150), from which it invests in between 30-50 companies which it believes to be attractively valued 
• Time tested analytical framework: driven by idea generation, analysis, decision & sizing and an ongoing evaluation

PORTFOLIO CONSTRUCTION AND RISK MANAGEMENT

• Balanced Portfolio Approach: White Oak follows a balanced Portfolio that aims to avoid market timing or sector rotation and aims for alpha generation through stock selection.
• Typical exposure limits: Single Stock: 10% at market value | Single promoter group: 25% | Single industry 30%
• Proposed Market Cap weights: 40-60% Large Cap and 60-40% Mid and Smallcap

PMS Background

Founded in June 2017, White Oak PMS is a relatively young platform that has scaled rapidly to become one of the largest and most respected PMS houses in India. This growth has been driven primarily by the undisputed investment pedigree of its founder and CIO, Prashant Khemka, who previously served as CIO and Lead Portfolio Manager for Goldman Sachs India Equity and Global Emerging Markets Equity strategies. During his tenure at Goldman Sachs, these strategies delivered substantial and consistent outperformance versus benchmarks while scaling to multi-billion-dollar AUM, establishing Prashant as one of the most credible global investors in Indian equities. Since inception, White Oak has invested significantly in building a deep and seasoned research organisation, with a senior analyst bench averaging over a decade of experience, supported by a broader analyst team. The combination of founder pedigree, institutional-quality research depth, and clearly articulated processes has enabled White Oak to scale credibility and assets at a pace rarely seen among independent PMS platforms.

PMS Investment Philosophy

Outsized Returns Through Great Businesses at Attractive Valuations

• Great Businesses: Focus on well-managed companies with scalable long-term opportunities, strong returns on incremental capital, robust execution capabilities, and consistent governance standards.
• Attractive Valuations: Emphasis on identifying situations where estimated intrinsic value is materially higher than prevailing market prices.
• Stock-Centric Approach: Investment decisions are driven by bottom-up stock analysis rather than macro forecasting.
• Avoidance of Red Flags: Systematic exclusion of businesses with governance concerns, weak incremental ROCEs, or structural obsolescence risks.
• Limited Macro Bets: Macro variables are treated as sources of random risk rather than alpha; portfolios remain fully invested with balanced construction, avoiding market timing and aggressive sector rotation.

Strong Investment Culture

White Oak’s investment culture is shaped by a team of local experts with extensive global experience, operating within a performance-driven framework that aligns closely with client outcomes. The firm follows time-tested processes anchored in disciplined fundamental research, including a proprietary Opco–Finco analytical framework refined over more than two decades. Stock selection remains firmly bottom-up, with the objective of buying high-quality businesses at attractive valuations, while portfolio construction is designed to balance conviction with diversification and minimise reliance on top-down macro calls.

Investment Process

• Universe Screening: The process begins with a broad investible universe of approximately 750 companies with market capitalisation above USD 150 million, which is narrowed to a subset of around 150 businesses that meet White Oak’s quality criteria.
• Portfolio Construction: From this refined universe, the portfolio is constructed with roughly 30–50 stocks assessed to be trading at attractive valuations.
• Analytical Framework: The process is driven by a structured and time-tested workflow covering idea generation, deep fundamental analysis, conviction-based sizing, and continuous monitoring and evaluation.

Suitable For

Investors seeking relatively consistent, lower-risk equity returns through a diversified PMS platform that emphasises strong business fundamentals, valuation discipline, and institutionally robust research and portfolio construction processes.