Steve Johnson serves as Chief Investment Officer and founder of Forager Funds Management, established in 2009. Johnson holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Econometrics and Finance from the University of New South Wales and has been actively managing small-cap focused investments since 2009. He maintains a high media profile with regular appearances on ABC, CNBC, and Ausbiz, while contributing to prominent Australian financial publications. The firm was originally established as Intelligent Investor Funds before rebranding to Forager Funds Management in 2014. As a privately owned company with significant staff ownership and co-investment in their funds, the alignment between staff, shareholders, and investors is particularly strong. Johnson and his team manage approximately AUD $470 million in listed shares for over 2,000 long-term investors, demonstrating their commitment to long-term value creation through patient capital allocation.

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Forager's investment philosophy centers on seeking meaningful long-term returns from investments in unloved, under-researched and undervalued stocks. The fund operates as a fundamental value manager, investing in securities trading at significant discounts to their intrinsic value. The team specializes in small, unusual and sometimes unpopular opportunities with an opportunistic investment approach targeting market distress and out-of-favor businesses. The fund maintains a concentrated portfolio of 15-50 underappreciated Australian and New Zealand stocks, with a typical investment horizon of 3-5 years. Their approach relies on extensive research, patience, and capitalizing on market distress and investor panic to acquire shares below their intrinsic value. The investment strategy focuses on uncovering undervalued opportunities from promising small businesses to resilient mid and large-cap stocks.

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