A private equity approach to public markets
David Barr is Investment Executive’s Mutual Fund Manager of the Year
Pender CEO and Portfolio Manager David Barr has been named as “a natural choice” for Mutual Fund Manager of the Year by Investment Executive. In a feature interview, David covers his approach to managing the Pender Small Cap Opportunities Fund, the takeouts in the Fund in 2021, “The majority of the nine acquisitions were in the technology space and “were taken out at a premium,” Barr said. “It’s been a nice tailwind for the portfolio” that has driven “a large percentage of the returns.””
He also highlights portfolio holdings ProntoForms Corp. and Sangoma Technologies Corp.. The interview includes the Methodology that Investment Executive employed in its decision.
“We take a private equity approach to public markets. What that means is really understanding the underlying economics of the business we’re investing in,” said Barr, who described himself as a “bottom-up investor all the way.” Later in the article he added, “Never measure your success in short periods,” Barr said. “Focusing longer term is a much healthier measure and more indicative of what’s actually going on.”