Business
As the politicians are finding it increasingly en vogue to criticize globalism (“if you believe you're a citizen of the world, you're a citizen of nowhere” opined Theresa May recently), these investment managers are only proud to call themselves citizens of the world. The name of their new single family office, APOLIS S.A.M., means just that — a global citizen.
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vgeny Denisenko, Ilya Gertsberg and Alexey Zarochentsev have recently moved to Monaco. Their collective background includes investment banking and research (Goldman Sachs, Lazard), accounting at “Big Four” and New York hedge funds. There is an ex-attorney and a CFA among them. But it is mostly years caring for family and sovereign wealth through both traded and private investments that define the team.
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So how does “globalism” fit into investments? Evgeny Denisenko: the objective of our investment strategy — finding diversified income — became easier in the context of global portfolio.With interest rates still historically low, you have to go further afield to get decent yields in bonds and other fixed income instruments we own. We have all major geographies represented — US, Europe, LatAm, Asia, South Africa. There are strict country limits, however, and no position accounts for more than 3% of the portfolio. Also, despite higher yields found in countries like Argentina and Kazakhstan, this is by no means an emerging markets portfolio — our biggest allocation is the US
market, and we are continually impressed by the diversity and liquidity that can be found there.The US also has tax-advantaged instruments such as real estate investment trusts (REITs) whose objective is to maximize yield to investor. Speaking of taxes, Monaco is a perfect home base for yield-seeking investor — not having to worry about the local tax treatment of dividends, interest and short-term capital gains make portfolio manager’s job a lot easier. What do you think is a definition of a good portfolio manager? Evgeny Denisenko: 15 years ago, a good analyst or a portfolio manager was defined by his or her ability to uncover information. Today, it is the ability to sift through all the information that counts most. We continuously screen for attractive yield that does not come with a lot of risk attached. In doing so, we process a plenty of information, both from the macro-economic level and from ground-up research. As a starting point, we often run screens on Bloomberg terminal and compile lists of relevant ideas from investment banks and brokerages. It also helps to have a worldwide network of contacts among portfolio managers (and not only
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