- Why Unifi
Our Recipe
- Over our long journey of wonderful successes and learnings, we continue to sharpen our skills. Our experience is our best compass.
- Positioning our research team in Chennai releases Unifi from the echo-chamber of market buzz that causes most institutions to congregate around group-think. Our most productive work is done visiting the factories, warehouses and offices of our portfolio companies across the country.
- We realised 20 years ago that it would be greatly rewarding if we could look at the under-researched segments comprising over 400 firms. To cut a long story short, we succeeded over time and it has paid off handsomely; we think this strategy still offers great potential.
- Mowing our biases and encouraging free debate creates sterile conditions for a thorough due diligence and forensic investment process.
- We can be opportunistic in a flash but always with meticulous ground-level research.
Performance & People
- Rs.100 invested with Unifi PMS 10 years ago would now be worth Rs.671 versus Rs.342 and Rs. 399 in the Nifty and Midcap respectively. We’ve out-performed the market in 8 of the past 10 years.
- Human Capital – as word gets around, we’ve become a prime career choice.
- 5 of our 14 member research team have 15 - 30 years of experience.
- 9 of them have earned a CA, CFA or top tier MBA accreditation.
- We benefit from the diverse exposure and network of our colleagues from 12 states.
- 25% of our overall team strength of 103 have been with us for over 10 years.
- We are objective and direct in performance assessment and generous in reward and recognition.
- Managing uncertainty – Experience helps us differentiate risk from uncertainty. Extensive research and our team’s diverse skill-set help us understand and control risk even better.
Relationships
- We serve about 11,000 clients across 22 states, many of whom are national leaders in industry, science and the arts. We share common goals with our internal and external stakeholders, and they have in turn built longevity and growth in their relationship with Unifi.
- Our communication and handholding has made all the difference in helping clients traverse the painful phases that are very much a part of the market’s cycle. This is how we do it:
- Transparency – clients can login anytime and get upto-date portfolio exposure to companies, sectors, and returns across time periods duly compared with the benchmark.
- Every quarter our research team shares a detailed update discussing the broad market and the latest performance of each holding.
- Semi-annually our fund managers host live webinars (and in-person presentations when possible) to present the portfolio actions taken, strategy, and performance; followed by a detailed Q&A.
- We have very seasoned and respected client advisors (6 of them with 10 to 25 years of experience) located at all metros. They are available for clients to call and seek clarifications or customized portfolio review meetings.
Alignment of Interest
The 100% employee ownership of our firm enables us to put your interests before our shareholders. For example:
- It enables us to offer the ‘pay for out-performance’ option that our clients love.
- We are among the select fund managers offering a full-cycle fee structure. It means no performance fees are paid until the end of the fund’s 5 year life.
- It’s true that the fees we earn pay for our team, but it’s honoring our clients’ respect that motivates us always to stretch the extra mile. It’s for that simple reason that we choose to limit the capital we accept in each of our funds, curtailing our own fees, to ensure that we are cherrypicking the highest returning investments for our clients.
- When we see that a theme has run its course, we return the money to clients and close the fund.
Strength & Stability
- Long tenures of key team members provide an opportunity to build comfortable and trusting relationships that enhance productivity. To grow the firm’s bandwidth ahead of the curve, we groom in-house talent and supplement the team with experienced professionals.
- We commit for the long term when we make strategic decisions and stay the course. We maintain a strong balance sheet and liquidity to ensure that the firm can absorb a shock and can sustain long down-cycles in the market.
From the Founder's Desk
Watch the video series by our founder to understand the genesis of the company, competitive advantage, investing style, absolute value orientation, approach to risk, consistency definition and last but not least, our people.
