Kenneth is the founder and chief information officer of Old Bridge Capital Management, a PMS registered in India. He manages the investment process and leads investment ideation. He has over 27 years of experience in investment research, portfolio management, and Indian capital markets. He also has a strong 15-year track record of managing some of the most successful equity funds in India.Kenneth’s experience in portfolio management includes the 10 years at IDFC Asset Management Company, which was ranked amongst the top 8 in the Mutual Fund industry in India, Year 2005 – 2015. IDFC MF was India’s fastest-growing mutual fund from 2008 to 2015. As Chief Investment Officer at IDFC, Kenneth was in charge of the $8 billion corpus’s performance. In addition to managing one of the biggest equity funds by AUM in India, he was in charge of developing the company’s equity franchise. Over the course of a ten-year period, the company’s flagship fund, IDFC Premier Equity Fund, produced a CAGR growth of 22.3%.
Kenneth Andrade, who gained notoriety in the Indian investment community for his exceptional performance as a fund manager, is making a comeback to the mutual fund industry with the introduction of Old Bridge Focused Equity Fund, the company’s first equity scheme.The new fund offer (NFO) for the Old Bridge Focused Equity Fund will go live on January 17 and end on January 19.This comes after the markets regulator, SEBI, gave Andrade’s Old Bridge principal approval to launch their mutual funds in September 2023.Speaking about the launch of his fund, Kenneth Andrade, CIO of Old Bridge Asset Management Private Limited, said. The fund’s strategy, which emphasises early-cycle companies with strong leadership and growth potential, is in line with our philosophy of investing. It will be more of a targeted fund depending on mid-cap stocks because that has always been our style—mid-market.”A maximum of 30 stocks with varying market capitalization will be included in this fund.
Andrade’s track record
Andrade, who had built a reputation for his strategic investments in hidden mid-cap and small-cap gems and was even hailed as a mid-cap mogul by Forbes India, shot to the limelight when he helped IDFC Premier Equity Fund (now IDFC Flexi Cap Fund) achieve a staggering 21 per cent returns as against the category average of just a tick above 11 per cent between February 2007 and September 2015. Not surprisingly, during this time the fund was at the top of its category charts.His performance was equally impressive at the IDFC Sterling Value Fund (now known as the Bandhan Value Fund), where from March 2008 to June 2013, he generated returns of 13.53 percent as opposed to the 8.89 percent category average.The Mumbai-based fund manager was employed by Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund, where he oversaw the Kotak MNC Fund and Kotak Mid Cap Fund, prior to joining IDFC Mutual Fund, where he spent more than ten years (2005–2015).After a successful tenure with IDFC Mutual Fund, Andrade—a self-confessed music enthusiast—left the mutual fund industry and entered the field of portfolio management with Old Bridge Capital Management in 2015.
The fund’s philosophy aligns with Andrade’s investment approach, which enabled him to surpass his peers and emerge as one of the top mid-cap fund managers during his tenure.He oversaw the Premier Equity Fund of the former IDFC Mutual Fund, which he co-managed from 2005 to 2015. The fund, which closed in 2018 with an AUM of Rs 5,300 crore, was relaunched in 2018 and is now known as the Bandhan Multi Cap Fund. From 2005 to 2015, it generated a compound annual growth rate of 21%, which was higher than the BSE 500 Index.Andrade is a firm believer in holding a small number of mid-cap stocks in his portfolio and waiting for them to increase in value. Andrade notes that although the inaugural fund of Old Bridge AMC will not be based on market capitalization, it is anticipated to have a concentrated holding of mid-market stocks.”We will be incorporating that investing style into our maiden fund, as it has proven successful for me,” he states.He clarifies that the house philosophy has always focused on investing in long-lasting companies and limiting capital losses by using a buy-and-hold strategy. “It’s about buying at the right time and price, and then waiting,” says Andrade. He claims that adopting this mindset contributes to creating a safety buffer “to protect our portfolios.”
Since 2015, the landscape of fund management has evolved. The business is now even more competitive. Old Bridge Mutual Fund will have fierce competition from both long-standing competitors and recent arrivals. Helios and Zerodha are a couple of the prominent newbies. Jio Financial Services, in collaboration with BlackRock, will soon be noticeable in the market as well. However, with some well-known fund managers leaving the industry in recent years, such as Prashant Jain, the return of seasoned investment managers like Andrade and Samir Arora (of Helios Mutual Fund) is a welcome change.