Foord Asset Management

Foord Asset Management ("Foord") is a global investment boutique with operations in Singapore, Cape Town, Luxembourg, Guernsey, Switzerland and London. Founded by Dave Foord, in 1981, it is grounded in private client management, has a vision for long-term investment stewardship and has over 30 years experience in managing money with an absolute return focus. The group manages asset allocation and single asset class portfolios exceeding USD 12bn for institutional and retail investors. Foord's flagship UCITS product is the USD 2bn Foord International Fund, a Luxembourg-domiciled fund with a superb 20 year track record. At Foord, we put investors' interests first. We are preoccupied with the preservation of capital and the pervasive understanding and management of risk. We steadfastly believe in our ability to produce consistent, inflation-beating long-term returns using a combination of sound asset allocation and selection of undervalued securities. Our investment philosophy and associated process have remained unwavering. It is this consistency and our ability to have a truly long-term perspective that has resulted in our enviable record of success. Foord's first foray into global investment management came about in 1997 when it established Foord Asset Management (Guernsey) Limited to manage the Foord International Trust ("FIT"), an absolute return fund. This decision was motivated by South Africa's relaxation of its exchange control regime, allowing institutional investors access to foreign assets via the asset swap mechanism. Rather than appoint sub-managers for the foreign asset component of the portfolio, Dave Foord believed Foord could do things better by applying the same investment philosophy and approach that had worked so successfully in South Africa. The stellar performance of FIT stands as testimony to this foresight Dave displayed at the time. The changes in the legislative framework for unit trusts in South Africa combined with a further appetite for expanding Foord's international operations, the Singapore office was established in early 2012 by incorporating Foord Asset Management (Singapore) Pte. Limited ("Foord Singapore"). In June 2012 Foord Singapore launched Foord Global Equity Fund ("FGEF"), a relative return fund. FGEF had to be launched as a restricted scheme, available for investment by institutional and accredited investors only, in view of the regulatory status of Foord Singapore at that time. Following changes in the regulatory framework in Singapore for fund managers, Foord Singapore applied for and was successful, in late May 2013, in obtaining a Capital Markets Services License for fund management, that permits it to serve all classes of investors, including retail investors. Following on from this milestone, in June 2013, Foord Singapore registered a prospectus for FGEF with the Monetary Authority of Singapore for distribution to retail investors. To take advantage of the UCITS framework and Luxembourg as a centre of excellence in the funds market and further enhance Foord's international operations, in April 2013, Foord launched Foord International Fund ("FIF"), a UCITS compliant fund which is a sub-fund of Foord Sicav, an investment company with variable capital and multiple sub-funds. Through a process generically know as "redomiciliation" Foord was able to transport the investment strategy and parameters of FIT to Luxembourg and thereby ensure the 16 year track record of FIT moved from Guernsey to Luxembourg. FIT has become a feeder fund feeding into FIF. With a UCITS accredited fund structure in place Foord is well positioned to distribute its products to a wider group of international investors.