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Hardman Johnston Global Advisors

Stamford, CT
Concentrated International Growth Equity

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Our Partnership

Dakota began working with Hardman Johnston in 2019, marketing their concentrated international growth strategy, leading up to Hardman Johnston also taking over the sub-advisor role of the Hardman Johnston International Growth Fund on January 1, 2020.

You can visit Hardman Johnston's website for more information, or visit Hamlin on Dakota Pages and view current and historical documents.

Get to know our partners

We are excited to introduce Hardman Johnston and their concentrated international growth strategy to a new audience of professional allocators in a joint effort to expand their primarily institutional client base.

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Hardman Johnston is a concentrated international equity boutique manager founded in 1985 and located in Stamford, CT. The firm is 100% employee-owned. As of December 31, 2023, Hardman Johnston manages over $6.8 billion in assets. Their flagship strategy is the International Growth strategy which has been continuously managed by Cassandra Hardman (CIO International & Global Strategies, CEO) since 1997.

This strategy is available via a separately managed account, commingled vehicle or mutual fund. Cassandra is supported by two Portfolio Managers who are both shareholders of the firm, and four Research Analysts.

Philosophically, the investment process is driven by the belief that over the long-term market performance is driven by fundamentals (specifically earnings growth), but that in the short-term markets can be driven by emotion, presenting attractive entry points for fundamentally sound companies.

Strategy Overview

The Hardman Johnston International Growth strategy is a concentrated portfolio built from the bottom-up and is based on deep, fundamental research. The team operates as growth investors when researching companies, but value investors when buying them.

The strategy is designed to identify companies with a minimum forward-looking secular EPS growth rate of 10% per annum, with market leadership in their sector, high quality earnings, and attractive valuations. The portfolio consists of 25-30 international developed market and emerging market growth companies subject to exposure constraints for risk control.

Portfolio construction applies diversification constraints to manage concentration risk within industries, countries, and single securities. The outcome is a best ideas, risk aware, high conviction portfolio with low turnover and high active share.

This investment philosophy has led to outperformance during more normalized environments when earnings growth drives performance, during market downturns when quality, valuation, and stability of earnings are often a safe haven for investors, and during the subsequent recovery when market leaders take share and can maintain pricing power. The strategy can be used as both the growth satellite within an international equity structure or as the primary manager within a portfolio’s international equity allocation.

What We Like About Them

1

Independence and Continuity

The Firm is committed to remaining independent and is 100% employee owned. Cassandra Hardman, the lead PM and CIO of International & Global Strategies, is the firm’s majority shareholder and has been managing the strategy across numerous market cycles since 1997.

2

Concentrated Portfolio With
Secular Growth Trends

While the investment team is not thematic in their approach, the fundamental research process leads them to companies levered to many of the transformative growth trends in the world.

3

Consistent Return Pattern With Low Turnover

The focus on high quality, market leading companies with insulated earnings, and attractive relative valuation has produced strong downside protection and accelerated upside participation during market recoveries where we have seen leading niche companies gain market share from weaker competitors. The team is patient and deliberate in their approach with long-term holding periods.

Contact Information

If you would like to learn more about Hardman Johnston and/or speak with a Portfolio Manager, call Tim Dolan at (314) 853-0801 or email at tdolan@dakota.com.
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