Core Themes

Thematic investing at its core is about participating in change. It is a forward-looking investment approach that seeks to identify structural trends and the underlying investments that may benefit from their materialisation. From our perspective, a thematic mandate allows us to position a portfolio for an uncharted era of new technologies that are shifting paradigms and reshaping legacy infrastructure. Given the rapid rate of technological advances, uncertainty around government policy, and concern about the future availability of natural resources, we believe investors should consider thematic investing as a counterweight to some of these longer-term systemic risks.

Great economic revolutions in history occur when new energy regimes emerge, and new communications are developed to organise them. The first and second industrial revolutions were guided by the convergence in the type and availability of energy and connectivity. The first industrial revolution was driven by coal and steam power, combined with the printing press; the second was fuelled by centralised electricity and the oil-powered internal combustion engine, along with the telephone and radio. We are currently witnessing the advancements in blockchain technology and the relentless development in renewable energy infrastructure. Leveraging decentralised renewable energy sites with the scaling capabilities of the internet could well be the onset of an energy revolution.

This concept of an energy internet provides an opportunity to transform legacy power systems by integrating renewable energy sources with internet connectivity. The components of these systems are multi-layered and, from an investment perspective, the opportunity set wide.