Managed account · India · Equity
India Value Opportunities
Conservative and concentrated. A long-only value strategy managed through market cycles, holding no more than twelve companies at a time.
Before anything else
We take stewardship of your capital
Nine commitments govern how this strategy is run: partnership, transparency, bad news first, and no agreement whose incentives are misaligned with yours.
Investment approach
Investment philosophy
Strategy synthesis
We invest in businesses, not a ticker. We do not subscribe to the philosophy that only buying low-multiple stocks is value investing. Price matters, but the largest potential value sits in cash-flow-generating, innovation-driven businesses making the earth a more sustainable place for future generations.
We also believe in responsible capitalism: capitalism in which stakeholder interests are largely aligned with shareholder interests, and profit maximisation is directly proportional to human value maximisation.
Long-only value
GreatBear is a long-only value investor. Market irrationality about the price of a business may have no upper bound, and we do not like that exposure from shorting.
We look at a business with a private equity approach. Buying stock is an opportunity to identify mispriced assets and seek re-rating while growing with the fortunes of the company.
Capital allocation is our main job.
Research
Research methodology
Selection process
Continuously research companies and identify those which show a significant difference between value and price.
Understand industry microeconomics to form a view on the future company-specific business picture. We need at least one unique key insight about the business.
Understand whether the drivers for re-rating exist.
Buy only if valuations are opportune. We typically never buy at more than 10x P/E, 3x market cap to sales, or 0.2 PEG. We are looking for considerable margin of safety.
Identifying a solid business
- Is the business increasing or maintaining its market share?
- Does the company show stable or growing operating margin?
- Is the company moving up the value chain in its products or services?
- Is there evidence of organic sustainable growth?
- Is there enough management stake to minimise agency problems?
- Is the industry growing with freedom from excessive government interference?
- Is the business improving people's lives?
Due diligence
Assessing management quality
Management quality is what management does or has done, rather than what they say or the reputation they hold.
Financial quality checks
- No anomalies in interest income or payment
- No deferred taxation issues
- Interest cover preferably above 5x
- At least 80% of assets tangible
- Account receivables not abnormal against payables
- Positive and ideally increasing working capital
- No aggressive cash variations from investing activities
- Cash from financing matches debt and dividend payments
- Option remuneration and equity dilution implications
Behavioural assessment
- Promoter holds a significant stake, at least 50%, and it is not decreasing
- Freedom of the board, with appropriate sitting fees
- Clear focus on core competencies
- No track record with law enforcement, tax officials, or human rights issues
Market cycle
The portfolio through a cycle
Effort to be broadly correct rather than precisely wrong. Cash and index ETFs are legitimate positions when equities offer no margin of safety.
Construction
Portfolio construction
We can buy low liquidity stocks, and we do not limit ourselves to a minimum market cap threshold.
Continual monitoring
The behaviour of the representative NAV is continuously monitored through various market environments, forming the primary qualitative basis for price risk behaviour.
Selection revisited
Sometimes new information, an error in analysis, or oversight changes the thesis. Long-term investing is a thought process, not sticking to an investment to prove a point.
New ideas explored
News sources, research reports, corporate actions, or simple discovery may unearth ideas with potential for inclusion.
Performance
Track record
Some of our positions
Nine holdings across banking, non-bank lending, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, metals recycling and technology services. Each position is held for a structural theme we want the portfolio exposed to over a full cycle, not for a quarter.
| Company | Business | The theme it plays |
|---|---|---|
| Bank of MaharashtraNSE, BSE | Public sector bank | Balance sheet repair in public sector banking. A decade of clean-up has left the bank with restored asset quality just as credit demand broadens into smaller cities, and the market still prices it as though the clean-up had never happened. |
| Karur Vysya BankNSE, BSE | Private sector bank | Formalisation of small business credit in the south. A century-old Tamil Nadu franchise with deep local relationships is now underwriting with modern systems, and the earnings are re-rating on execution rather than on the cycle. |
| Cholamandalam Investment & FinanceNSE, BSE | Vehicle and SME lending | Retail credit reaching past the metros. Vehicle, home and small enterprise lending to borrowers the large banks do not serve well, compounding assets under management at above 20% a year with the underwriting culture of a house that has done this since 1978. |
| Shriram FinanceNSE, BSE | Commercial vehicle finance | The freight economy and the arrival of global capital in Indian retail credit. India's largest financier of used commercial vehicles lends to the operators who move the country's goods, and MUFG Bank's 20% subscription in 2026 both validated the franchise and recapitalised it for the next decade of growth. |
| Strides Pharma ScienceNSE, BSE | Pharmaceuticals | India as the supplier of affordable medicine to the regulated world. A turnaround that has restored operating margin, cut borrowings and returned the business to free cash generation, with the capacity already in place to serve rising demand for low-cost generics. Promoter holding is low and partly pledged, which we monitor. |
| Force MotorsNSE, BSE | Commercial and utility vehicles | India as an integrated manufacturing base. Last-mile commercial mobility and school and staff transport at one end, precision engine and axle assembly for German luxury car makers at the other, on a debt-free balance sheet and a margin that has expanded eightfold in four years. |
| Gravita IndiaNSE, BSE | Metals recycling | The circular economy becoming regulated industry. India's largest lead recycler, extending into aluminium, plastic and rubber, as extended producer responsibility rules push scrap out of the informal sector and toward organised recyclers with the permits and the capacity. Return on capital has fallen while that capacity was being built. |
| SagilityNSE, BSE | Healthcare business services | American healthcare cost pressure met with Indian capability. Claims, payment integrity and clinical operations run from India for United States payers and providers, a market where cost per claim has to fall and India is where the work goes. |
| Dynacons Systems & SolutionsNSE, BSE | IT infrastructure | The build-out of India's digital public infrastructure. Data centres and system integration for public sector banks, government departments and payment bodies, including a ₹268 Cr NPCI data centre award, in a capital programme that runs for years rather than quarters. Collection from government clients is slow, and receivable days are the position's weak point. |
Holdings are shown for illustration and are subject to change. These notes set out the theme, not the full case: position-level valuation, risks and financial detail are given to clients in the quarterly report.
Competitive edge
Where our advantage comes from
Disciplined value process
Self-imposed constraints to conform to value investing. Stock selection is the key and only driver of excess portfolio returns.
No leverage, no shorting
No leverage and no portfolio shorting. No aggressive trading is done in the portfolio.
Concentrated conviction
No stylistic bias and no over-diversification. Few portfolios in the Indian and Asian equity space go down the market cap spectrum as GreatBear does.
Patience as edge
We strive to do the hardest thing in investing, which is to wait. We do not believe we have any skill in market timing.
Leadership
Portfolio manager
Saptarshi Das, CFA
Portfolio Manager
GreatBear Ventures. Private wealth management for HNI entrepreneurs and family offices. Discretionary fund advisory.
Octopus Investments ($7 Bn AUM), FQS Capital, Visiongain Global, London. Portfolio management of a $75 Mn absolute return fund, overseeing $300–500 Mn allocation to emerging and Asian markets.
Masters in Management, Imperial College London.
Mechanical Engineering, Gujarat University, India.
Terms
Investment terms
Setup fee: ₹5,000 resident Indians · $5,000 FPI corporates · $1,000 FPI HNIs
The terms behind the terms
The Stewardship Code
Fees and minimums are the commercial terms. The code is the one that matters: how we behave when a thesis breaks, when news is bad, and when there is nothing worth buying.
Get in touch
Reach out for a meaningful conversation.
Saptarshi Das, CFA · Ahmedabad, India
Stock investments are subject to market risks. Please read the IPS information and other related documents carefully before investing. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Please consider your specific investment requirements before choosing an advisor, or designing a portfolio that suits your needs. The value of investments can go down as well as up, so you could get back less than you invest.