We are a specialized global manager focused on compounding wealth for friends, family and clients with a long-term view of more than 5 years through our International Small Cap Focus Fund and our Global Opportunities Fund.

We are high-conviction, active investors who seek to add value by building style-agnostic equity portfolios, usually with less than 20 companies, generating excess returns through stock selection, and investing with a long-term horizon of greater than 5 years.

We focus on companies that can deliver long term value creation by exhibiting a competitive advantage and by having an experienced management team with a proven record on operations and capital allocation.

Our team's edge is identifying and valuing these companies, being patient, and buying these businesses only when the stock price is far below the potential value of the business. This reduces risk and increases the opportunity for higher returns.

Why Invest With Us?

Team Built to Succeed

We have all the ingredients built up over 25 years of global investing.

Built Successful Businesses

We have managed retail and institutional international products at Brown Capital and Franklin Templeton.

Experienced – Over 25 Years of international Investing

• Strong analytical skills
• Strong selling abilities
• Excellent client service

Investment Process Built for the Long Term

We feel now is the time to build focused
portfolios as there are many
opportunities in the international small
cap and global markets.

Our Story

After more than 25 years of equity investing in global and international markets, both for institutions and retail investors, we have decided to start our own minority-owned investment advisory with an international small cap fund, focused on smaller companies outside the US with less than $10bln in market capitalization, and a global opportunities fund that can invest anywhere in any market capitalization.

Our objective is to compound the wealth of our partners, friends and family.  We are also heavily invested in our own funds.

In terms of our investment process, we are simply focused on buying great companies cheaply. Generally, most exceptional companies are expensive, offering not much in above average returns.  However, extreme patience, focus, and discipline will yield opportunities, especially with equity markets that tend to be irrational from time to time. Our methodology is built to take advantage of these opportunities.

We plan to deliver above average returns with less risk over time. This should translate into success for our firm for the next 25 years or more.

Underpinning our goal is to focus on what we love to do, to treat everyone fairly, and to give back to those who need it most, helping to make a more balanced and healthier society for the future.

Handshake

Investment Philosophy

OPPORTUNITY

• We invest in companies that can grow much larger that are overlooked.
• We invest in companies that are disregarded or disliked due to market pessimism.

QUALITY

• We invest in companies that have some form of competitive advantage.
• We select management teams with successful capital allocation and operational track records.
• Our preference is for owner-manager companies with returns on capital or equity that exceed 10%.

VALUATION

• The company’s potential value must far exceed what is currently being offered for sale

Investment Process

How Do We Find Ideas

How Do We Find Ideas?

  1. Various screening techniques, reviewing thousands of companies globally
  2. Follow and speak to successful investment managers who have a similar mindset and share ideas
  3. Build a database of exceptional businesses
  4. Look for business managers that are exceptional in capital allocation
  5. Visit companies and their competitors
In-Depth-Analysis

In-Depth Analysis

  1. Examine the track record of the business
  2. Understand the mechanics of the business and how it
    creates value
  3. Profitability analysis in good and bad times over different business cycles
  4. Understanding the competitive environment and the
    industry dynamics
  5. Analysis of and engagement with management
  6. Assessment of environmental, social and governance
    practices
Valuation sell Discipline

Valuation and Sell Discipline

  1. We use various valuation techniques including discounted cash flow models, PE-Based valuation techniques, private market and relative values
  2. The objective is to hold the company as long as it
    continues to grow and the management is concentrated
    on value creation
  3. We will sell if we analyzed a company incorrectly, which
    will happen from time to time
  4. We will sell when the fundamentals of the company have deteriorated
  5. We will sell when the valuation is no longer compelling and if we can redeploy capital into a higher expected return on investments

Reports

Read our latest reports to gain a comprehensive view of our investment approach and strategies.

Edwin Lugo II, CFA.

Annual Reports

Edwin Lugo II, CFA – Founder and Managing Director

About

Mr. Lugo has over 20 years experience in managing international equities for various clients — including pension plans, endowments, high-net-worth individuals and mutual funds. His most recent experience includes 15 years of investing in New York City in international small-cap companies. He led a team of up to five analysts at Franklin Templeton, one of the largest fund managers globally, between 2006 and 2021. Mr. Lugo’s team grew assets from $100 million in 2006 to $6 billion by 2014. He managed several concentrated small-to-mid-cap products for Franklin Templeton, including European Small-Mid-Cap, International Small-Cap and Global Small-Mid-Cap funds, and separate institutional accounts.

Mr. Lugo has traveled extensively globally, visiting companies in various industries to analyze businesses and meet management teams in different cultures and regions, including Europe, Asia, the Americas and emerging markets.

Previous Experience

In 1996, Mr. Lugo initially joined Franklin Templeton in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, after graduating with an MBA from Columbia Business School. He worked as an analyst and eventually as a portfolio manager, covering industrial companies globally, and the countries of Israel, Egypt and Argentina.

In 2002, Mr. Lugo began and built the Brown Capital International service, working with Mr. Edward Ramos. The focus of Brown was an all-cap international portfolio. It started with $1 million in assets in 2002 and built assets up to $50 million by 2006, before Mr. Lugo departed to rejoin Franklin Templeton.

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Martin Steinik, CFA – Part-time Portfolio Manager & Analyst

Martin Steinik
About

Martin began his investment management career in 1994, where he worked as a Research Analyst alongside founder Edwin Lugo at Templeton Investment Counsel covering global small cap equities.  After leaving Franklin-Templeton to obtain his MBA at London Business School, and working several years as a sell-side analyst in both London and New York, he reunited with Edwin to build Brown Capital’s successful international business. Martin is a Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) charter holder. He is also a lecturer and long standing Executive in Residence at the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business.

Previous Experience
Martin is CFO and Co-founder of Three Bulls Capital, a private equity real estate firm, based in Atlanta, GA.  Prior to that, he was a Portfolio Manager with Invesco’s Global Core Equity Group based in Atlanta managing more than $10 billion. He was previously Managing Director and Head of International Equities at Brown Capital Management, where his fund received a five-star rating from Morningstar. Before joining Brown Capital Management, he served as a Vice President and Senior Analyst at JP Morgan and as an analyst at Morgan Stanley and at Franklin Templeton.
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