David Baran, Co-Founder of Symphony Financial Partners, has over 20 years of experience investing in Asia. He has lived in Asia and Japan for nearly 3 decades and is fluent in Japanese.
Baran's SFP Value Realization Fund was launched in September 2003 when Nikkei was about 9,500. The index has fallen since then, yet his fund is still up 56% after fees.
The secret to achieving returns in Japan is that you'll have to do more than just long-only investing. The unloved, under-covered nature of the Japanese market creates opportunities that ordinary fund managers are not capable of pursuing because it’s too hard to extract the value. Many Japanese firms, particularly the smaller ones, can boast about 40+% operating profits and 30+% EBITDA margins. They can have net cash positions and trade at 50+% net cash to market cap. Hundreds actually trade at over 100% net cash to market – which means the market is valuing these viable businesses at zero.
“Investors in the U.S. equity markets would be falling over themselves to invest in a company like these - net cash, strong business moat and growth prospects," says Baran. But being “cheap” isn't enough – you need catalysts to unlock the value.
M&A activity flourishing in Japan
Corporate activity is such a catalyst. MBOs have an average premium of 50% (!) and sometimes reach triple digit numbers. Many of the large Japanese conglomerates started to buy back listed subsidiaries. Baran also advises on the Sinfonietta Asia Macro hedge fund, one of the best performing Asian hedge funds in 2001.
Hear David speak about:
* The 8 reasons why management buyouts are gaining popularity
* Why you need catalysts to unlock value in Japan equities
* What investors are missing by considering Japan as an "asset class"
* How to avoid "value traps"
* Considering tail risk: Why Baran's Sinfonietta hedge fund is "geared towards a disorderly market"
Symphony Financial Partners was set up by David Baran and Kazuhiko Shibata. Founders' expertise included equity trading, arbitrage, corporate advisory and M&A.Mr. Baran has over 20 years of experience investing in Asia. He takes lead responsibility for market-related analysis and investment assessment. Prior to forming Symphony, Mr. Baran held senior management positions at Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, and Barclays Capital in Tokyo. During those assignments he developed and managed Japanese equities and equity derivative proprietary trading activities. He moved to the buy side to establish and manage the Japanese public and private equity investment activities of a U.S. based hedge fund. Mr. Baran graduated cum laude with a B.A. in political economy from the University of California, Berkeley and a Masters in international finance from Columbia University. He has lived in Asia and Japan for nearly 3 decades and is fluent in Japanese.
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David Baran, Co-Founder of Symphony Financial Partners, has over 20 years of experience investing in Asia. He has lived in Asia and Japan for nearly 3 decades and is fluent in Japanese.
Baran's SFP Value Realization Fund was launched in September 2003 when Nikkei was about 9,500. The index has fallen since then, yet his fund is still up 56% after fees.
The secret to achieving returns in Japan is that you'll have to do more than just long-only investing. The unloved, under-covered nature of the Japanese market creates o
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