Some good news for South African investors from Sweden and, in particular, that country’s top money manager, 41 year old Lisa Synning. Bloomberg published a piece on the outperforming Ms Synning over the weekend, highlighting how her portfolio last year “trounced” 99% of the world’s other emerging market funds, and beats 95% of them over the last five years.
Her secret? Betting heavily on Hong Kong-based Tencent Holdings and its domestic competitor Alibaba. South Africa’s Naspers, with 31%, is the biggest shareholder in Tencent. And the Chinese company matters to most SA investors as its fortunes determine the direction of Naspers shares which carry a 20% weighting in the main JSE index.
Ms Synning says she has been increasing her already substantial exposure to the Chinese champions. Reason: “People underestimate how much these companies can grow. They’re disrupting themselves. Everything Tencent and Alibaba are developing for the future is underestimated.” Something to bring a smile to many faces this Monday morning.
