Headquartered in London, Carrhae Capital is an independent investment partnership, which aims to deliver high quality risk-adjusted returns derived from investing in publicly listed companies operating within Emerging Markets. Since the firm’s inception, the team at Carrhae have enjoyed a meteoric rise to success, thanks to its award-winning leader Ali Akay who recently received the accolade CEO of the Year, 2020 – the United Kingdom. We profiled both Carrhae and Ali to discover more about the extraordinary accomplishment they have achieved over the last decade.
Carrhae Capital is a London-based boutique emerging markets asset manager, which oversees in excess of US$ 550 million across hedge fund and long only equity products. The firm was founded in 2011 by Ali Akay, following a successful investment career as a portfolio manager at SAC, HBK and Goldman Sachs Principle Strategies.
Named after a famous historic battle between the Roman Republic and the Parthian Empire in 53 BC, the lessons learned from this encounter are applied by Ali Akay when investing in distant emerging markets and serve as a reminder of the risks of investing without thorough knowledge; “proceed with humility and caution, always keeping our ears to the ground for sage local advice.”
With this investment philosophy in mind, in the long-run Carrhae aspires to be a top-tier investment in its clients’ portfolios, whichever product they select. Carrhae’s investment approach has led to its hedge fund winning numerous awards for its performance in its class, and the returns of the long only equity product being in the top percentile amongst its peer group.
As emerging markets continue to increase their role in financial and economic activity and businesses become more international, Carrhae’s products should be setup to outperform. Encouraged by the increasing opportunity set for the firm and the pedigree of its investment team, Aziz joined in 2019 as CEO to focus on business development, executing its marketing business plan and strengthening the firm’s client relationships. However, his association with the firm goes back to its inception, when he supported the founding team in raising its initial capital while working at Goldman Sachs.
Being a seasoned financial professional he draws on his extensive experience and relationships accumulated at bulge bracket investment banks, hedge funds, as well as private equity investment experience to enhance the awareness of the firm, its products and its team to both investors and high calibre talent.
The success of a boutique asset management firm is driven not only by its ability to provide a superior investment proposition, but also ensure its clients receive the highest standards of service delivered by a proficient interface. In servicing and prospecting clients, it is becoming ever-more important to provide deeply transparent data and analytics to better evaluate each product’s value addition and its appropriateness. As CEO, Aziz emulates the diligence, integrity, humility and collaboration of Carrhae’s investment team to build trusted relationships, provide a high-level of service and effectively represent its products and information.
Looking ahead to what the future holds, both Aziz and the team at Carrhae will continue to exceed the expectations of clients, as they works towards their goal of being a -tier investment in their clients’ portfolios in the years to come.
