Episode 77: Maple-Brown Abbott’s Geoff Bazzan

Asian Equities, Value Investing and Chinese Tech Stocks

Geoff Bazzan is Head of Asia-Pacific Equities at Maple-Brown Abbott. In this episode of the [i3] podcast, we speak about the Asian equity markets, whether value-style investing is suited to the Chinese market and the recent geopolitical upheaval. Please enjoy the show.
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Overview of podcast with Geoff Bazzan, Maple Brown Abbott

01:00 Starting at Maple Brown Abbott more than 35 years ago
03:30 Changes in investing over the years: more tech, more participants and more news flow
05:00 Starting as a graduate at NAB in banking
06:30 China and the recent volatility
08:30 Xi JinPing’s third term and the market impact
10:30 How do geopolitical events inform your investment decisions?
11:00 Regulatory crackdown in China
13:00 Buying into the selloff
13:30 Value investing and Chinese technology stocks
17:00 India
18:30 The Indian economy has proven very resilient to the oil price this time around
19:00 Demonetisation in India had an unnecessary negative impact on the economy
19:30 It is hard to find stocks that are good value in India now, but our biggest exposure is to financials
21:00 We’ve gone from an overweight to India a few years ago to a modest underweight. Demonetisation in 2016 was an opportunity to pick up some stocks
24:00 Vietnam is an interesting market from a demographic perspective, while Korea is interesting from a contrarian standpoint
26:30 China has committed to carbon neutrality by 2060. How important is that for the stock market?
29:00 In some respects, there is still a green bubble in the Chinese market
31:00 How do you see the interplay between the energy transition and value investing? Value companies tend to be more in the utility and energy space, rather than technology sector?
32:00 The whole Chinese market looks like deep value at the moment
34:00 In Australia, the commodity cycle continues to bail us out, as it has done in the last decade or so.
35:00 Favourite trades over the years?

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[i3] Insights is the official educational bulletin of the Investment Innovation Institute [i3]. It covers major trends and innovations in institutional investing, providing independent and thought-provoking content about pension funds, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds across the globe. The [i3] podcast is available on iTunesGoogle PodcastSpotifyAmazon MusicStitcher or your favourite podcast platform.