Brief:
A common belief states that, to achieve exponential returns in the markets, its necessary to find the not-so-famous stocks. But, what if we tell you a Mumbai based PMS has been successful in not only beating its peers but also the benchmarks consistently by betting on the companies which have been the market darlings for the last 20 years. The Marcellus Investment Managers led by Mr Saurabh Mukherjea have been on a spree for the year ending 2019 with 29.8% returns. Let us know a little more about Mr Saurabh Mukherjea in today’s TFP Profile who is known for making the complex process of stock picking look very lucid in his dealings.
Education and Early Career:
At age of 14, in the year 1991, Saurabh’s family migrated to the UK from India. Completing his schooling in St. Columbia School at age of 18, he had already enjoyed four different stints in paid employment. His part-time jobs included delivering newspapers, delivering bathroom fittings, and cleaning stores as mentioned in his interview with the ET. These jobs helped him learn important skills like to market himself in front of an employer, to persuade the customers to invest their money with him/ his fund and to not give up on anything.
A CFA charter holder and SEBI registered investment advisor, He graduated from the prestigious London School of Economics in 1998. He earned a B.Sc. in Economics with a first-class honour followed by M.Sc. in Economics where he got distinction in Macro and Microeconomics. He remembers and cherishes his LSE days and frequently talks about its intellect aura which made him immune to the complexities of professional life. He started his professional career with England’s leading management consultant London Economics as a consultant in the year 1998, where he met his mentor John Kay whom he celebrates in his book Gurus of Chaos-Modern India money masters. Post which, he went on to work for a brief stint with Accenture before co-founding Clear Capital a UK-based Small cap-midcap focused equity research firm in 2004. He was rated as one of the top small caps analysts in the UK by Extel survey in the year 2006.
Later Career and Marcellus investment managers:
Intuitionally in 2007 he sold Clear capital to a bigger British broker and migrated back to India. As a CEO of Ambit Capital, he was instrumental in the rise of the company as a leader in the broking and wealth management. He was rated as a top Indian small-cap equity analyst in the years 2015, 2016 and 2017 by the Asia Money polls. At the end of his stint with Ambit Capital in 2018, the assets under advisory were at $800mn.On SEBI’s invitation, he joined the SEBI’s asset management advisory committee in 2018. In August 2018, he founded Marcellus Investment Managers with his peers which provide portfolio management service and is based out of Mumbai.
His 3 pillared investment philosophy of Sustainability, Dominance, and Essentiality has proved to be a block of the missing space for the Indian stock-picking logic and has worked wonders for his PMS fund. The Company is known for its stellar performances by betting on the market leaders with strong fundamentals and promising growth prospects. Being a ferocious reader, Jason Voss’s Intuitive Investor has been an influence on him to keep his professional journey spiritual, which makes him a big believer in the power of meditation and practices it regularly.
Marcellus Investment Philosophy:
The Firm believes in the purpose of influencing efficient capital allocation in the Indian economy. They achieve it by channelling household savings towards high-quality businesses with a long track record of efficient capital allocation, which in turn delivers superior returns to the savers. The philosophy has evolved from the ideas of Rob Kirby (of the Journal of Portfolio Management 1984) and Peter Thiel (The Dream team leader and the founder of PayPal) which has been refined further and stands on the three pillars of:
- Clean Accounting practices.
- Efficient Capital Allocation
- Competitive Advantage.
Along with the idea of a long-term holding period to earn superior returns from the power of compounding.
As an Author:
Mr Saurabh Mukherjea has also authored best-sellers like Gurus of Chaos (2014), The Unusual Billionaires (2016), and The Coffee can investing: the low-risk route to stupendous wealth (2018). He also co-authored the Victory Project (2020) with CA Anupam Gupta who is an investment consultant and a podcaster. Mr Mukherjea is always seen taking Educational seminars, town halls, and book readings which has made him a to quote name in the finance students’ community. His books have been called out to be relevant and simple to understand which has led to their immense popularity among budding analysts and Finance enthusiasts around the globe. He has been a constant advocate of ethical and sustainable business reporting practices and their importance in making a company, a value-generating asset for its stakeholders.
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