| Wentworth, Hauser and Violich, Inc. (“WHV”), headquartered in San Francisco, was founded in 1937 and has been serving the needs of institutional investors since 1945. The clients the firm works with include corporations, public funds, endowments, foundations, multi-employer pension funds and health-care plans. The firm manages international equity assets for more than 20 Florida public plans. The investment philosophy of the WHV International Equity Fund is grounded in the belief that investing in the most attractive global economic sectors can generate superior investment performance. During the 1990’s, Richard K. Hirayama recognized that the world’s investment landscape had evolved from being influenced by regional or country-specific events to an environment defined primarily by two dominant global forces: 1) globalization of the business world by economic sectors and 2) categorization of stocks by sectors rather than by country of origin. In an attempt to take advantage of this changed environment, WHV adopted a top-down sector approach. First, the relative attractiveness of 10 global economic sectors is analyzed. Second, the potential of 64 industry groups is examined. Third, the attractiveness of 54 countries is studied. Fourth, a universe of 1,500 foreign equity securities is researched. Lastly, a portfolio of 30 to 60 stocks is constructed of economic sectors with what WHV believes has the potential for superior earnings growth. The firm has been managing WHV International Equity assets since 1995. |
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