| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| - | - | - |
Montaka delivered their Q4 2025 letter emphasizing their focus on long-duration market inefficiencies despite 2025 underperformance. The year was characterized by dramatic AI-driven changes and significant return dispersion, with more than one-third of S&P 500 stocks delivering negative returns despite strong overall market performance. The manager made strategic portfolio adjustments, adding to undervalued positions like Meta Platforms, enterprise software leaders ServiceNow and Salesforce, and payment processors while reducing winners like Alphabet and Tencent. They initiated a new position in lithium producer Albemarle, viewing it as an asymmetric value play on an impending supply shortage. The letter extensively discusses AI's transformative impact on global competition for scarce resources, geopolitical tensions, and rising inequality. Despite acknowledging significant macro risks including fragmenting democracies and youth unemployment, Montaka remains optimistic about their portfolio positioning, noting the risk-adjusted upside has improved to levels not seen for quite some time.
Montaka focuses on identifying and owning global opportunities which are beneficiaries of long-term structural change and are highly-advantaged, as equity markets routinely undervalue businesses with the potential to grow their earnings power sustainably over extended time horizons.
The manager is optimistic about opportunities ahead and the strength of their investment approach in identifying long-term winners. They see substantial risk-adjusted upside in the portfolio today and continue to see significant opportunity with many transformations remaining early in their trajectories and many beneficiary businesses becoming cheaper over recent months.
| Date | Letter | Tickers | Keywords | Pitches | Quick Takes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 31 2026 | 2025 Q4 | 0700.HK, ALB, AMZN, BX, CRM, FND, GOOGL, KKR, MA, MDB, META, MOGL.AX, MSFT, NOW, ORCL, REA.AX, SPGI, SPOT, U, V | AI, Cloud, geopolitics, Lithium, software, technology, value |
ALB FND NOW BX KKR |
AI is driving dramatic transformation and propelling stock prices higher. The manager sees AI as creating enormous capital investments in data centers and driving growth… |
| Nov 7 2025 | 2025 Q3 | DASH, FND, MC FP, MDB, SPOT, TCEHY | FreeCashFlow, global, moats, Quality, Resilience | - | Montaka focuses on high-quality global franchises with durable competitive advantages and strong free cash flow. The fund stresses patience through drawdowns as long-term fundamentals outweigh… |
| Jul 24 2025 | 2025 Q2 | BX, FND, KKR, SPOT | Concentration, fundamentals, Global Equities, Long-Term Growth, Pricing Power | FND | The commentary centers on a concentrated global portfolio of exceptional businesses with long-duration growth and pricing power. Management emphasizes patience, fundamental research, and ignoring short-term… |
| Jan 7 2025 | 2024 Q4 | GOOG, MC FP, MDB, NOW, SPGI | - | - | - |
| Oct 17 2024 | 2024 Q3 | AMZN, BX, FND, MA, NOW | - | - | - |
| Jul 30 2024 | 2024 Q2 | - | - | - | - |
| Apr 27 2024 | 2024 Q1 | AAPL, AMD, BX, KD, MC FP, WMT | - | - | - |
| Jan 28 2024 | 2023 Q4 | BX, KKR, MC FP, OR FP, SPGI, V | - | - | - |
| Oct 19 2023 | 2023 Q3 | - | - | - | - |
| Aug 8 2023 | 2023 Q2 | - | - | - | - |
| Apr 12 2023 | 2023 Q1 | AMD, BAC, GOOG | - | - | - |
| QUARTER | THEMES | TAGS |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 |
AIAI has become a dominant theme across major equity indices, with Nvidia leading the S&P 500, ASML dominating MSCI EAFE, and TSMC leading emerging markets. The fund benefited from AI-related dynamics, particularly through Samsung's memory products experiencing substantial price increases due to DRAM shortages driven by AI demand. |
Semiconductors Memory DRAM Technology Nvidia |
Alternative Asset ManagersMA Financial is viewed as an alternative asset manager experiencing strong momentum across its platform, particularly in Asset Management which drives long-term shareholder value. The company has invested ahead of the curve to build scalable operating platforms, with operating leverage becoming evident as revenues scale over a largely fixed cost base. |
Asset Management Operating Leverage Scalable Platforms Fee-earning Assets Financial Services | |
LithiumFull Circle Lithium emerged as a unique play in lithium fire suppression technology, manufacturing FCL-X for extinguishing lithium-ion battery fires with strong sales channel development and rapid scaling expectations. |
Lithium Battery Fire Safety Technology | |
SoftwareBravura Solutions provides mission-critical software to financial institutions globally with high switching costs. The company was acquired by interests connected to Constellation Software's playbook of buying sticky software businesses. |
Software Financial Services Mission Critical Switching Costs Constellation | |
| 2025 Q3 |
QualityThe portfolio has shifted toward higher quality businesses with better profitability, lower leverage, and less volatile earnings. Quality stocks underperformed significantly in 2025, creating attractive entry points for value investors. The manager maintains price discipline while seeking quality companies trading at discounts to intrinsic value. |
Quality Profitability Leverage Earnings |
| 2025 Q2 |
ConcentrationFive companies now represent roughly 30% of the S&P 500's market cap. The top 10 exceed 40%—the highest concentration in 50 years. Nearly $340 billion flowed into U.S. deals, yet it was packed into the fewest deals of the decade, with nearly half the capital concentrated in a few dozen deals over $500 million. |
Market Capital Risk Deals Venture |
| Date | Pitch Type | Author | Ticker | Company | Industry | Sub Industry | Bull / Bear | Exchange | Keywords | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2025 | Fund Letters | Andrew Macken | FND | Floor & Decor Holdings, Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Specialty Stores | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Flywheel, Hard Flooring, Housing, retail, scale | Login |
| Jan 31, 2026 | Fund Letters | Andrew Macken | ALB | Albemarle Corporation | Materials | Specialty Chemicals | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Batteries, Commodities, energy storage, Lithium, renewables, Supply Shortage | Login |
| Jan 31, 2026 | Fund Letters | Andrew Macken | FND | Floor & Decor Holdings, Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Specialty Retail | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Flooring, Housing, operating leverage, Specialty retail, valuation | Login |
| Jan 31, 2026 | Fund Letters | Andrew Macken | NOW | ServiceNow, Inc. | Information Technology | Application Software | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Agentic, Automation, enterprise, Subscriptions, switching costs, Workflow | Login |
| Jan 31, 2026 | Fund Letters | Andrew Macken | BX | The Blackstone Inc. | Financials | Asset Management & Custody Banks | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Alternatives, Fees, Fundraising, M&A, Private Credit, Realizations | Login |
| Jan 31, 2026 | Fund Letters | Andrew Macken | KKR | KKR & Co. Inc. | Financials | Asset Management & Custody Banks | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Alternatives, Carry, Fundraising, M&A, Private Credit, Realizations | Login |
| TICKER | COMMENTARY |
|---|---|
| 0700.HK | Tencent was mentioned as one of the largest contributors in 2025. |
| ALB | A new position in mandatory convertible securities of lithium producer Albermarle made a sizable contribution as well. Lithium prices rose due to reduced supply from China, and market participants became more optimistic about the metal's potential use in energy storage applications. |
| AMZN | We added to our holdings in Amazon.com Inc. |
| BX | Blackstone declined. The world's leading alternative asset managers, such as Blackstone, also declined in 2025. We also right-sized our positions in Blackstone – both of which remain in Montaka's top 10. |
| CRM | We trimmed Salesforce Inc. |
| FND | Floor & Decor Holdings (FND) is a specialty retailer offering a broad assortment of hard-surface flooring products at everyday low prices. |
| GOOGL | I'm willing to go bankrupt rather than lose this race. Larry Page, co-founder of Google |
| KKR | Over the prior two years, KKR was one of the Fund's strongest contributors. From the end of 2022 through the end of 2024, the shares more than tripled, rising roughly 80% in 2023 and another 80% in 2024, as the market began to recognize the earnings power of its asset-management and insurance platforms. This year, the stock told a different story: in 2025 it was down about 13% and was roughly 23% below its January peak. Strip away the stock-price swings, and the business itself has continued to grow. Fee-related earnings, insurance earnings, and long-dated capital have all moved higher, even as market sentiment toward rates, credit, and capital flows into alternatives has become more cautious. |
| MA | The enduring appeal of card payments is their universality. Consumers trust that Visa and Mastercard will be accepted globally. After more than 20 years of litigation, Visa and Mastercard agreed to yet another settlement that gives merchants greater flexibility |
| MDB | Top 3 contributors to absolute performance: GOOGL, AAPL, MDB |
| META | Meta was cited as a larger position that contributed little despite what I thought was positive operating progress, representing opportunity cost in the portfolio. |
| MSFT | OpenAI's well-documented 'circular' funding with its business partners (NVIDIA, Microsoft, among others) is additional cause for concern. |
| NOW | In the case of ServiceNow, the stock weakened following reports of a potential large acquisition while the company has also been challenged by bearish sentiment across the software as a service or SAAS segment. |
| ORCL | Investor enthusiasm for Oracle's stock in calendar year 2025 was initially driven by several multi-billion-dollar contracts it signed with leading AI companies, including OpenAI and Meta. However, in Q4 sentiment for ORCL's growth prospects shifted to skepticism, as investors began to scrutinize the return profile of the substantial capital investments required to support the approximately $500 billion of contracts signed by Oracle. |
| REA.AX | In contrast, the Fund's largest detractors were Pro Medicus, REA Group and WiseTech Global, which declined by 11.5%, 20.3% and 43.3% respectively. |
| SPGI | Ratings agencies S&P Global and Moody's had good years as corporations and governments issued more bonds, increasing earnings per share by an estimated 27% and 31%, respectively. Their stocks returned a more moderate 7% and 10%. |
| SPOT | Spotify is the world's leading audio streaming platform. Third-quarter results showed continued operating progress, with users increasing 11% to 713 million and subscribers growing 12% to 281 million. Meanwhile, operating income expanded to a mid-teens margin, alongside a record quarterly free cash flow. Despite the momentum, the shares weakened as investors reset near-term margin expectations. Spotify has been a top contributor to long-term Fund performance, and we remain confident that pricing, product innovation, advertising efficiency, and an expanding ecosystem can continue to widen margins over time, as reinforced this quarter by the launch of Spotify recommendations within ChatGPT. |
| U | Unity Software had big one-year gains. |
| V | We added to our holdings in Visa Inc. |
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