A few confused arguments in this thread - here are my 2c worth. Firstly, as an SA investor, if you want overseas exposure, you have 2 choices - passive ETF's or active funds. (your 3rd choice is to stock pick, but that is a separate thread altogether). Loads of choice regarding passive funds, covered in previous threads. Now in the active fund range, you again have 3 choices 1) You buy into a mutual fund of sorts i.e. unit trusts 2) you buy into the companies offering mutual funds (my personal favourite mechanism) - Coronation and Peregrine are examples or 3) you buy investment holding companies - Astoria fits this category. Now the business case around investment holding companies is you are buying into their dealmaking ability, because they can pull off stuff that you as an investor never will (look at Brait, PSG or Naspers). This is where I have my doubts concerning Astoria - they are sitting with piles of cash, and have really only executed one portion of their investment strategy, which is publicly traded equities, not a lot of skill in this. It is what they are going to do with the remaining 60% of their cash which will determine their value.
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