Dakota began working with Hardman Johnston in 2019, marketing their concentrated international growth strategy. On January 1, 2020, Hardman Johnston also took over the sub-advisor role of the Hardman Johnston International Growth Fund.
We're 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.
Visit Hardman Johnston's website for more information, or visit Hardman Johnston on Dakota Pages to view current and historical documents.
Hardman Johnston is a concentrated international equity boutique manager founded in 1985 and located in Stamford, Connecticut. The firm is 100% employee-owned. As of June 30, 2026, Hardman Johnston manages over $10.2 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. The strategy is available via separately managed account, commingled vehicle, or mutual fund. Cassandra is supported by two Portfolio Managers, 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 in the short term markets can be driven by emotion, presenting attractive entry points for fundamentally sound companies.
The Hardman Johnston International Growth strategy is a concentrated portfolio built from the bottom up and 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 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.
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.
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.
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. The team is patient and deliberate, with long-term holding periods.
Reach out to Tim Dolan to learn more about Hardman Johnston and to set up a conversation with a member of the Hardman Johnston team.
Dakota partners with a select group of boutique investment managers across long-only equity, private alternatives, and private placement.
