/ The Melville Douglas Way
Taking care of your wealth
Taking care of your wealth

 

Our investment solutions appeal to a wide range of investors, from individuals to institutions and their financial advisers, with investments held in various structures. Working together, we use our expertise and knowledge to identify investment opportunities across a range of investment instruments and markets and manage wealth in the most appropriate way. We are truly global investors as we seek out opportunities from around the world to create diversified investment solutions. We combine this global outlook with a personal approach to managing the individual needs of our clients.

Our approach to protecting and growing wealth

Our approach to protecting and growing wealth

Melville Douglas has been helping an extremely diverse and global range of clients to protect and grow their wealth. Our commitment to uncovering opportunities stretches back to 1983, when we set about building the bespoke investment approach we offer our clients.

Today, we continue to deliver the Melville Douglas way throughout our investment processes which are driven by fundamental research, with balanced decisions guided by a long-term outlook. As a result, we have delivered consistent investment performance.

A global player with the personal touch

The size and scale of our operation increased substantially in 2001 when we were acquired by Standard Bank. Although we remain an independent business, this partnership has enabled us to expand our offering both internationally and across the African continent with the support of Africa’s largest banking group.

Throughout this period of growth, we have maintained a focus on meeting individual investment needs. To do this successfully, our portfolio managers draw on their substantial experience and expertise as well as our robust investment processes. They have the freedom to make investment decisions based on what is most appropriate for each client.

Although we are strategically positioned to operate globally, our boutique approach ensures you will never be just a number to us.

A global player with the personal touch
Our People and lasting relationships

Our People and lasting relationships

Everyone who works at Melville Douglas shares one goal – to meet the investment needs of our clients with skill and attention to detail. Our 38 years of exceptional investment returns and service are grounded in the principle that growing your wealth is more than just what we do – to us, it’s personal.

We have the skills and experience required to capture investment opportunities from around the world. Investors can access our global expertise in a way that is most appropriate for them. We offer discretionary and execution services as well as a range of funds.

As a direct result of our flexible and personal approach, we have established long-lasting relationships with many of our clients. Some of these stretch back more than 30 years, often with several members of one family across multiple generations.

An active and global approach to investing

In an increasingly interconnected world successful investing requires a truly global perspective together with the skills and experience necessary for identifying opportunities and navigating the risks. Our approach is based on a rigorous, research-driven process that adapts to a changing investment environment.

Our portfolio managers will develop an investment strategy that is appropriate to your individual set of circumstances. Communication is important and we will review your plan regularly and make any changes if your situation or objectives change.

With longstanding teams located in Jersey and South Africa we provide a range of highly successful global investment solutions that can be tailored to meet your needs.

An active and global approach to investing
How we manage your investments

How we manage your investments

Attention to detail underpins everything we do and informs our mission to preserve the capital entrusted to us, and deliver superior risk-adjusted investment returns. Our commitment to always putting the client objectives first, entails a strong and persistent focus on the investors mandate, and risk management while keeping on eye on the cost of delivering their return. This enables us to aim for sustainable, repeatable investment results. To us, quality and consistency in our approach will always count more than capturing short-term price changes fluctuations.

It is our firm belief that long-term returns can only be reliably delivered through building high- conviction portfolios with quality assets of considered diversification. Our conviction that the entry price determines the investment outcome guides our process of acquiring a deep and detailed understanding of valuation, informing us how much we are willing to lay out. When it comes to this, we insist that all members of the team contribute to making the most accurate decision. The house view is always held above any individual opinion.

Our Investment Philosophy

01   —
Teamwork

Our ongoing success is built on our long history of attracting and developing the best investment talent available. We work together as a team in a supportive environment that encourages everyone to share their investment skills and knowledge.

Teamwork
Teamwork
02   —
Balance

We seek to strike the right balance across everything we do – between risk and return, capital growth and income. This approach ensures the best returns for our clients.

03   —
Long-term Investment

Experience has taught us that long-term investment returns depend on two key characteristics: the compound growth in the cash stream generated by the investment, and the price the investor pays. Consequently, we focus our effort on identifying and quantifying these characteristics for any investments we make.

Teamwork
Teamwork
04   —
Fundamental Research

At Melville Douglas, we rely on fundamental research to guide all our investment decisions. We only invest in superior businesses that exhibit strong and predictable growth, and which are led by competent management. Only when we have thoroughly examined the DNA of a business do we decide on whether or not to invest in it.

Our Investment Process

Our investment process is founded on a bottom-up approach. We identify high-quality investment opportunities at attractive prices, which we believe have the potential to deliver superior returns. A range of inputs informs our decisions, which are driven by our in-house research to reveal the intrinsic value of investment opportunities.

In our view, investments with no return on capital are purely speculative in nature and difficult to value accurately.

We place a strong focus on the price paid ensuring that investments are bought for the right reasons and with the appropriate upside so that we are able to absorb market movements and benefit from the compounded long term returns.

01   —
In-depth Research and Security Selection

We rely on in-depth, in-house research to guide all our investment decisions. We prefer investments and strategies that exhibit strong and predictable growth, and that are led by competent management.

We target predictable returns at the appropriate level of risk and achieve performance by avoiding investments with high downside risk and low returns on capital through the business cycle. Only when we thoroughly understand the drivers of the investment opportunity, do we decide on whether to invest in it.

Teamwork
Teamwork
02   —
Asset Allocation

Our asset allocation committee consists of longstanding seasoned professionals with deep expertise spanning the global spectrum of asset classes, instruments and investment techniques.

The committee meets regularly to survey the economic landscape, discuss the investment environment and update their outlook. We avoid macroeconomic forecasting and establish our view on likely returns through valuation techniques that reflect long-term patterns of past performance.

03   —
Portfolio Construction

Our asset allocation committee builds a model portfolio based on our house views to provide balance and diversification, while at the same time reflecting conviction in our best investment ideas.

Teamwork

Meet the team

Melville Douglas is driven by a team of highly experienced investment professionals based in South Africa and Jersey. The team combines a wealth of knowledge and expertise to create, implement, and monitor a range of prudent investment strategies.

Meet the South African team     Meet the Global team     Meet our management team