A globally recognised investor in emerging markets, during a visit to Sri Lanka this week, said the fund was positive on investing in the equities market here but first would ‘wait and see’ till elections are over, before firm decisions are made.
“We know the various plans (by the government) but we worry about actual implementation of the plan while elections (also) provide a degree of uncertainty. Thus we’ll wait and see,” Dr Mark Mobius, President of Templeton Emerging Markets Fund, Inc told the Sunday Times FT in a telephone interview on Friday just before his team left on a tour of the south to check out hotels and investment prospects in the leisure sector.
Dr Mark Mobius |
The 73-year old, widely acknowledged investment specialist in emerging markets, met at separate meetings a number of CEOs and corporate leaders representing top companies in the food, financial services, leisure, real estate, infrastructure and plantations listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange. He flew into Colombo in his personal jet.
Dr Mobius, who would be winding up a 5-day, low-profile visit, tomorrow after meetings with two top garment manufacturing groups and a financial services institution, said, “we would like to see rapid action on infrastructure.” He noted that public takeovers of private companies (a reference to LMS and Sri Lanka Insurance) was not a good idea.
The visit, coming on the heels of the visit of another investment guru Jim Rogers in late August – all connected with the post-conflict investment mood and prospects --, saw the Templeton head have luncheon meetings with Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister and Deputy Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama, and Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, among others. Mr Cabraal said Dr Mobius was positive on Sri Lanka while others whom he met believed his fund was keen in ploughing money into listed and unlisted companies.
Templeton recently invested $750 million in rupee-dominated, government bonds offered by the Central Bank. He told the Sunday Times FT that Templeton officials (including himself) have been to Sri Lanka a couple of times and sees a good market here. “The sectors we are looking at are tourism, specialised manufacturing, property development and banking,” he said, adding that liquidity is an issue in a small market (like Colombo) to invest between $50 to 100 million.
“Maybe we could use our private equity fund for these investments,” he added.
Dr Mobius, accompanied by a 3-member team, was keen on companies with good fundamentals, sources close to those he met, said. “Essentially Templeton showed interest in investing in companies with a good track record while the leisure sector drew a lot of interest particularly because of the huge potential after the end of the conflict,” one source said.
Dr Mobius, also Managing Director of Templeton Asset Management Ltd, has been a key figure in developing international policy for emerging markets, and is a frequently-sought speaker on emerging markets.
In 1999, he was selected to serve on the World Bank's Global Corporate Governance Forum as a member of the Private Sector Advisory Group and as co-chair of the Investor Responsibility Taskforce.
Templeton has special funds in China, Russia and Vietnam, among other portfolios. |
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