Regal: Let your winners run

Julian Babarczy, Portfolio Manager at Regal Funds Management, bought his first stock at age 19 and has been passionate about investing ever since. He joined the team at Regal Funds Management in 2004 and has now been working there for well over a decade. Julian has developed an interest in identifying emerging companies, a part of the market that gets him truly excited; “There’s nothing like the thrill of finding a company that can increase many-fold.” With so much interest in these early-stage companies, we sat down with Julian to get a true understanding of the opportunities (and risks).

“The best returning examples in my history have been when you let your winners run.”

Topics discussed:

• What does a great early-stage investment look like?
• An early stage technology company with IP that allows companies to share data securely;
• How he thinks about mining investment; where are we in the mining cycle
• His preferred commodities, including one that he expects will be ‘structurally undersupplied for the next decade’, a niche commodity that’s currently flying under the radar, and one of his preferred exposures.
• His top lessons for investors in emerging companies

Attributes of a great investment

1. The business needs to be scaleable; they’re looking for global opportunities
2. The business model needs to make sense; they need to see a reason that an Australian company will be able to compete in a global marketplace
3. The leadership needs to have the right experience and the leadership skills to succeed
4. The price needs to be right; too high a price means too low a reward for getting it right
5. They need to be able to get a research or informational edge over the market

The Regal Emerging Companies Fund seeks to take advantage of a gap in the Australian market for the funding of emerging companies that do not fit the mandates or criteria of traditional investment firms. The fund is available only to wholesale investors, as defined in the Corporations Act 2001, which includes sophisticated investors