Ocean Dial Investments Funds (ODIF) has boosted its investment team, appointing Tridib Pathak as co-head of equity at Ocean Dial India.
Ocean Dial India is based in the country, and acts as an adviser to Ocean Dial Asset Management. Mr Pathak is expected to assume full management of its Gateway to India Fund, which is currently managed by Gaurav Narain. Mr Narain had taken over from Sanjoy Bhattacharyya, after he stepped down earlier this year due to health issues.
The Gateway to India Fund is a listed equities fund with a large cap domestic focus. Utilising a team of analysts in Mumbai and adopting a concentrated portfolio, it aims to create long-term capital growth and with a diversified selection of securities that are listed, traded or dealt on regulated markets in the Indian subcontinent.
Mr Pathak has 20 years of experience in India’s fund management industry, managing assets for both domestic and international investors. He joins Ocean Dial India from Enam Group, where he was senior portfolio manager. His previous roles include being chief investment officer at Lotus Asset Management and DBS Cholamandalam. He started his career as a senior credit analyst before joining UBS India’s equity research department.
Commenting on the appointment Mr Bhattacharyya commented: “Mr Pathak is a natural replacement to manage the Gateway to India Fund, given his investment approach and depth of knowledge and experience across India’s capital markets. I wish him all the best in his new role.”
Mr Pathak added: “I am very pleased to be joining Ocean Dial at an exciting time in its growth. They are an outstanding team with a research-based investment approach. This is an opportunity to be instrumental in the next stage of Ocean Dial India’s development.”
Fundeye recently spoke with Ocean Dial Asset Management’s chief investment officer David Cornell, who manages its India Capital Growth Fund. This fund invests in small and mid-cap listed companies in India, and has recently suffered significant net asset declines as the fallout from Investment Leasing and Financial Services Limited (ILFS)continued to affect the domestic market.
Mr Cornell believes this is representative of a large divergence between the performance of large and mid-cap stocks and of the impact of ILFS on the Indian market. The fund’s total equity has declined 4.5 percent in the first half of this year, while its net asset value per share is down 10 percent during the same period.
