Origo Partners has published results for the year to the end of December 2014. Over the course of 2014 the net asset value fell by 60% but, of course, this was a long time ago now. Towards the end of the period the fund switched to focus on realising its portfolio. Since the end of the period the management of the company has been externalised, they have fought off an attempt to make changes to the Board and its investment policy (but nevertheless the composition of the Board has changed substantially and its membership shrunk from 7 to 3.
96 per cent. of the portfolio (in terms of fair value) as at 31 December 2014 was invested in unquoted portfolio companies and they had cash of $5.2m.
The managers try to sound an upbeat note with respect to the future of the company saying, “The outlook for the sectors in which the portfolio companies are active remains unclear, although there have been a number of positive developments after the end of the year. We remain convinced that our Chinese investments are well positioned to benefit from long-term trends in the Chinese economy and society. In Mongolia, the conclusion of the deal to fund the underground mine at Oyu Tolgoi removes a significant negative factor, and could provide the basis for a longer-term re-rating of the country’s mining sector.”
OPP : Origo results reflect difficult year for commodities in 2014