Kerr Neilson Resource Page

“But there is always creative destruction in markets: there are always new winners taking the place of those that are. So if you only look at the market’s surface, it may appear flat, but there’s always huge turbulence taking place within.”  — Kerr Neilson

Kerr Neilson: Background & bio

Kerr Neilson is by birth a South African. He soon established his reputation as an investment expert. During 1987, he had successfully detoured the notorious global equities market collapse at BT Australia, the Australian arm of Bankers Trust where he was working as a fund supervisor. He left British Telecom in 1993 to start his own finance management assemblage, Platinum Asset Management, with George Soros as a client and founding shareholder. He was able to list 25% of Platinum on the stock market in late 2006 and lost just about $500 million. He in Platinum Asset Management Still holds 57% of stakes.

Mr. Kerr Neilson, B. Com, ASIP is enjoying the position of Managing Director of Platinum Asset Management from 1993 he also serves as its Chief Investment Officer. Mr. Kerr Neilson is also the Managing Director of Palmer Tube Mills Ltd. from 1993. He is the Managing Director of Platinum Investment Management Limited and Platinum Capital Limited as well. He is the Chief Investment Officer of Platinum Master Portfolio, Platinum Capital Limited and Platinum Japan Fund. He is a knowledgeable Investment Analyst and Fund Manager.

Before Platinum Asset Management, he was Executive Vice President at Bankers Trust Australia Limited. Before that he had served both the UK and South Africa as an Investment Analyst and Fund Manager. He is the Executive Director of Platinum Asset Management from very early days. He also holds the position of Executive Director of Platinum Capital Ltd. Once he was the Director of Palmer Tube Mills Limited.

Platinum Capital Limited

Platinum Capital Limited (PMC) is an Australian-based, international equity fund. PMC maintains an assortment of worldwide funds and securities. The asset executive is Platinum Asset Management. PMC´s policy is to make out companies with trade and expansion projection not at present cherished by the market.

PMC based on its astronomical size uses quantitative transmission as a significant way of thinning down the cosmos for thoughts. Whereas reviewing the statistics is part of the approach. PMC seeks to look further than them at themes and up-and-coming trends.

Once a plan is discussed, analysts put forward a thorough investment description, from which senior employees examine the idea and seek to recognize flaws in the investment plan at ordinary team meetings. Outstandingly, the reason of these meetings is not to construct consent. To a certain extent, it is up to the forecaster investigating the idea to induce Neilson to spend. PMC attempts to offer total rather than relative returns, so portfolio make-up will be at variance markedly from the benchmark index MSCI All Country World Net Index in Australian dollars.

PMC holds around 150 extensive positions, constituting just about 70 to 80% of the assortment, and around 30 short positions, constituting the left over 20 to 30%. The firm invests in companies larger than$1.0 billion, and individual positions are, as a rule, less than three% of group value. Country weights are typically unrestrained, and the firm will take large bets in some of the minor regions. A serene venture approach keeps earnings in check at around 30% per annum. Though an on the go currency hedging approach is employed.

Neilson took his business to new heights by listing 20% of Platinum Asset Management’s business on the Australian Stock Exchange. He therefore made a mark as the global shares player. Australians know him as the most accomplished investor although there are other investors also like Hunter Hall and PM Capital, who successfully invest overseas.

Neilson manages the flagship Platinum International Fund, which he has done for the last 11 years. As a result of his specialized management, he ensures a return of 14.4% a year against the target MSCI Index return of 8.1% a year.

Platinum Funds devour more than forty percent of the money flowing into international shares from petite investors. Platinum never avoids bold calls; thereby the funds within start to underperform in the money market. However, this does not debilitate the Capital Fund significantly, and the overall picture remains alluring. Platinum unit holders are given priority, and there are many of those.

Although well known for his investments and financial performance, Neilson is also passionate about art and opened up the  White Rabbit Art Gallery.  The wide-ranging collection features extensive  post-2000 Chinese art  and is managed by his wife Judith who is unlike her hubby a bit different with a pronounced bias towards Asia. It’s a public gallery but also a museum in a way, said Neilson.

Neilson assumes modern art as a language and the more we exposed to it the more we are immersed in it. Neilson often talks about the jumble of art and science he puts to use in his technique of fund management. He powerfully surveys companies around the globe as well as their political, historical and geographical framework to single out stocks that are undervalued and might to do well over the protracted span of time.

The celebrated U.S. investor, Warren Buffett, usually practices this style of finance management. Timing is the whole thing as well, and Neilson has earned a reputation as a master of great timing particularly in adverse market situations. In 1987, Neilson was put into the spotlight when, as a senior fund manager at BT Australia, he maneuvered  and managed to avoid the worst of the catastrophe from a significant drop in international stocks. He quit BT with four others to set up the boutique Sydney-based Platinum in 1994, carefully avoiding the most of the frenzy leading up to the technical spoil of 2000.

Neilson’s area of expertise is to stay away from overhyped stocks at the pinnacle of a bull market. He persistently manifests a flair for the flipside. He sold 25% of his funds management group in a May 2007 share market float a few months before the global financial crisis hit.

He made himself a billionaire with that that crafty move retaining 322 million shares or 57 per cent of Platinum that is now worth about $1.2 billion. He has Twenty-five investment professionals running eight Worldwide funds the group, with $13 billion of funds under the management. Again general despair in the rest of the market has seen Neilson’s conservative stock-picking approach come to the fore with positive returns for its flagship International Fund. Neilson’s approach does not always put him at the top of the league tables.

Quotes

“If you study market activity over the long term, you know that there are always parts that are in decay or death and others in birth or rebirth.”

“China is not the growth engine it once was.”

“I think China could have a slight setback if the authorities end up being a little tardy in adjusting their policy settings. And investors could see the Chinese economy slow more than what they’re currently projecting.”

“So there’s a reasonable chance that in the next six months people could start worrying about how much growth to expect from China at a time when hopefully the global economy is looking a bit better.”

“I expect that the US economy will now gradually wend its way higher.”

“Toyota made the mistake of trying to become the biggest car company in the world, rather than one of the most profitable.”

“Property in Australia is ridiculously expensive by world standards, although no one wants to hear this because of vested interests.”

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