Sanlam Investment Management

As value investors, we believe that financial markets are inefficient and that we can add value relative to the general market indices as a result of this. Market inefficiency exists primarily because financial market participants are driven by human emotions. These emotions cause asset prices to move away from their fair values, which creates investment opportunities for patient investors. Also, as various market participants have different investment time frames and liquidity requirements, assets can become mispriced on a temporary basis.

As all information is publicly available, we cannot claim to add value by trying to gain an information edge relative to our competitors. The markets are global and we compete against the best teams in London, New York and elsewhere. In light of this, we do not believe that it is possible to forecast economic variables and company earnings better than anybody else, and it is a feature of our approach that we do not rely on such forecasts.

Rather, in terms of our pragmatic value approach, we believe that we can identify mispriced assets given current available information. The word “pragmatic” refers to the Charles Peirce School of investment philosophy, which advocates taking a practical approach to matters with reference to historical events.

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