MEET THE FUND MANAGER

The Investec Opportunity Fund has given investors a return of 12% above CPI over the past 14 years.

According to the latest data, the fund has approximately 44% in SA equities, 13% in domestic bonds, a negligible allocation to property and a fairly large cash weighting of 18%.

The fund has the maximum allocation offshore at 25%, of which the largest allocation is to high-quality global equities.

The reason the fund is at its maximum for offshore allocation is because of the relative attractiveness of foreign asset classes when juxtaposed to their SA counterparts.

Rossouw said: "Our view is that the combination of a rand which is overvalued by some 23% and select global equities valued at 12 times earnings, provide an explosive backdrop for high, long-term, forward-looking returns for the next five years, irrespective of how the global economy develops."

The top three holdings of the fund are global equity at 9.1% (a pooled vehicle investing in select global equities managed by Rossouw) and Assore (4.8% of the portfolio), followed by Steinhoff (3.2%).

The impressive returns were mainly because SA equities came off a low base and were able to revert to their historical averages thus unleashing a bull run.

Now it will be necessary for the fund to look offshore to come close to matching such a blistering run.

"Local shares have been buoyed by the strongest commodity cycle since World War 1, fuelled by easy money," said Rossouw.

However, he didn't believe that local stock indices would offer more than inflation plus 3% a year in future.

In particular, he said, local shares would offer "no room for adversity, although there are a few shares that we own that should do better than that".

"There is a risk that, with inflation and interest rates rising throughout 2011 in China and many parts of the emerging world, including South Africa, the local stock market could face a difficult environment."

Rossouw joined Investec Asset Management in November 1999 as an asset allocation and sector allocation strategist.

Prior to that, he was awarded a bursary by Sanlam and worked for the group for eight years, including five years in asset management.

Rossouw's experience in investments included fixed-income analysis and portfolio management.

He completed his BSc in statistics and actuarial science at the University of Cape Town in 1991.

Four years later, Rossouw obtained a certificate in actuarial techniques by the Institute of Actuaries in London and, in 1997, he gained his certificate in finance and investments from the same body.

He qualified as a chartered financial analysts in 1999.

He is an admirer of South African businessmen like Graham Mackay from SABMiller and Koos Bekker from Naspers, who have built successful businesses far beyond the borders of this country.