He was the first presenter at the very first Sohn Hearts & Minds conference at the Sydney Opera House in 2016, and now Adelaide fund manager David Prescott is hoping the event’s first foray into his home city will help to put it on the radar of some of the world’s leading investment experts.
Mr Prescott established boutique fund manager Lanyon Asset Management – a high-conviction equity investment firm – in 2010, after a stint as head of equities at infrastructure investment manager CP2.
The firm manages funds for institutional investors, family offices, charities, athletes and private investors, and in August listed its flagship $150m fund on the ASX.
But as one of only a handful of funds run out of the South Australian capital, Mr Prescott has for many years been using his platform to promote the city as a place where the industry, and budding fund managers, can thrive.
“We’re really passionate about this – we would love to see a vibrant and healthy funds management industry locally,” he said.
“It’s an industry that is certainly sub-scale locally, and we’re really passionate about retaining really strong talent in the state where we can. It’s (Sohn) a remarkable opportunity for Adelaide. It’s only the second time that the conference has been held outside of the traditional financial centres of Australia, being Sydney and Melbourne.
“It’s very rare that you see fund managers of this calibre in the state, and to have them all here presenting at the same time, there’s such a unique opportunity and we think will provide to the industry a real shot in the arm.”
Mr Prescott is supporting the conference via an education program designed to support students interested in pursuing a career in financial services.
For a third year in a row, Sohn Hearts & Minds has partnered with not-for-profit organisation Beacon Foundation to provide a group of local students with the chance to learn from some of the nation’s leading fund managers.
Mr Prescott recently participated in a workshop where he shared his experiences with a group of year 9 and 10 students from Adelaide Secondary School of English, who will attend Friday’s conference to learn more about finance and philanthropy.
The Sohn conference has raised $70m for medical research since its launch in 2016.
Beacon Foundation chief executive Scott Harris said the program helped students prepare for life after secondary school: “The chance to learn from the volunteers and hear their experiences first-hand provides a unique view into their jobs and careers, highlighting career pathways they might not have explored otherwise.”
Lanyon invests predominantly in ASX-listed companies, but also has some exposure to global equities. In addition to its listed fund, it also operates special purpose, single stock funds with a minimum investment of $500,000.
And while equity markets continue to trade at near record highs, Mr Prescott believes there are still opportunities to pick out undervalued stocks.
“There’s been a significant divergence in the returns from large-cap equities and small-cap equities, so we see a lot of opportunity to buy shares in good-quality smaller companies in Australia and globally,” he said.
“We’re very much bottom-up investors, so looking at companies specifically, rather than targeting individual sectors.”
Attendees at this year’s Sohn conference will hear stock tips and investment strategies from some of the world’s top fund managers, including Oaktree Capital co-founder Howard Marks, Sydney fund manager Alex Pollak, the founder of Loftus Peak, and Terra Capital founder and chief investment officer Jeremy Bond.
The Sohn Hearts & Minds conference will be held at Adelaide’s Festival Theatre on November 15.
This article was originally posted by The Australian here.
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