Describing himself as “one of an eclectic bunch”, South African native and Allan Gray chief operating officer JD de Lange looks anything but. In a smart navy suit and red tie, de Lange appears well suited to the career he’s carved out in Australia’s financial services industry, however he admits that in Allan Gray, especially in the group’s research team, coming from a financial services background like his own is a rarity.
“We prefer people who haven’t worked in financial services before,” de Lange says.
“Our philosophy is to appoint people without investment experience and train them up.”
The group favours individuals who have backgrounds in hard sciences such as medicine or engineering and the strong attention to detail and analytic qualities these people often have.
“As long as we continue to bring diverse people in, we’ll have diversity in our portfolios,” de Lange says.
“We prefer them to be looking across all investments.”
This is crucial for a group which has built its success by taking a contrarian investment approach to the market, preferring to go against the grain and buy unpopular stocks while other investment managers choose to sell.
In doing so, Allan Gray aims to purchase at a discount and find value in stocks others often overlook.
“It’s always hard to buy things that are unpopular as there’s no certainty,” he says.
To counter this, it’s necessary to apply a long-term mindset to any investments and research thoroughly before coming to a decision, which helps to provide peace-of-mind to investors.
“The biggest thing to instill is how we fit into the market,” he says.
“Even though you are different and invest in a different way, you still have to fit into the system.
“The assurance lies in the research – we do all of ours ourselves.”
The approach also helps to ensure that companies are purchased at a fair price and emotions don’t get in the way of decision making.
“Emotions are at the heart of most things that are overpriced,” he says.
“The stock market is an anomaly as it’s driven by emotion and uncertainty.”
Buying and selling intangible assets such as shares is difficult as investors cannot see or feel what they’re purchasing, which can create uncertainty and fear.
“Buy your shares like you buy your groceries, not like you buy your makeup,” de Lange advises on how investors should purchase shares.
JD de Lange joined Allan Gray Australia as chief operating officer in 2010 and oversees the group’s operations in Australia.
Written by Elizabeth Somerville, Content and Community Manager, evolution media group.
