A veteran investor with an impressive track record is launching its first flexi-cap fund. A look at its unique philosophy.:

News Topical, Digital Desk : Veteran Indian market investor Sunil Singhania is once again in the news. His first flexi-cap fund will open to investors on December 8th. Previously, he led one of the country's most successful mutual fund houses for 17 years. He then founded his investment firm, Abakkus, which today is a ₹40,000 crore asset management company.

Chartered accountant Sunil Singhania began his career in auditing and research. He then joined Reliance Mutual Fund in the early 2000s and became CIO – Equities in 2005. In 2014, Sunil became the group's Global Head of Equities, overseeing domestic mutual funds, offshore mandates, and insurance assets. After leaving that position in 2017, he founded Abacus. Today, Abacus is one of India's fastest-growing PMS and AIF firms with an AUM of ₹40,000 crore.

Singhania's unique philosophy Singhania's investment philosophy is simple yet highly disciplined. His famous 15x15x15 formula is: 15% profit growth, 15% ROE, 15x P/E. This is considered a formula for long-term compounding. He believes that what matters is long-term growth and price discipline, rather than labels (value vs. growth). Singhania doesn't follow the crowd. In 2018, during the "quality at any price" era and FMCG stocks were skyrocketing, he warned that valuations had far outpaced growth, and his position has proven true over time.

His View on the Governance Debate Some critics have said that Singhania takes risks by investing in smaller companies or family-driven firms. But his answer has been clear: who are we to judge management? The market will decide. Most importantly, his portfolio has never suffered losses due to major scams or financial blow-ups, which in itself is a testament to his track record.

Outperformance over 20 years Reliance Growth Fund, led by Sunil Singhania, delivered an annualized return of 25.4% from March 2003 to August 2017, far exceeding the BSE 200's 15.8%. This performance trend continued during the Abacus era. All Cap Growth 1 PMS/AIF has delivered a return of 19% since its launch in July 2018, compared to 9.2% for the BSE 200. Furthermore, Abacus Allcap Approach SMA has delivered a return of 23.8% since its launch in October 2020. Their track record in small caps is also impressive. Reliance Small Cap Fund delivered an annualized return of 15.8% between December 2010 and August 2017, compared to 14% for the BSE 500. Its successor strategy at Abakus has performed even better, with the Emerging Opportunities AIF compounding at 28.9% since June 2019, compared to 15.8% for the BSE 500, and the Emerging Opportunities SMA returning 28.7%, exceeding the benchmark return.

The MEETS Framework: If 15x15x15 is the foundation, then MEETS is the architecture. This framework, built into Abakkus, has proven to be quite beneficial from an investment perspective. M – Management E – Earnings E – Events T – Timing S – Structural Opportunity This is a checklist, designed for different cycles. It ranges from the rapid growth of infrastructure to consumer defensives and enthusiasm for small-caps.