After a long-haul flight from Asia, and then a day chock-full of meetings, Andrew Swan excuses himself to our photographer if he looks a little jaded.
Shoot done, I fear our late afternoon meeting may be pushing his fortitude, though ever the professional he is happy to talk me through his career journey from Sydney to Singapore and beyond.
Now based in Hong Kong, the head of Asian fundamental equities leads BlackRock’s Asian equities strategy, including its Asian Special Situations unit trust and several offshore funds.
Starting his career with seven years on the sell side as an analyst, Swan moved on to the buy side while in Singapore and has never looked back.
“Every now and then you get the chance to take a view that is different to how the rest of the world sees something, and see that view come to fruition,” he says.
“That is a very rewarding process because you are making your clients quite a bit of money when you have the opportunity.”
A pragmatist at heart, Swan describes himself as contrarian “around extremes”.
He says: “I am not naturally someone who likes to argue with everyone and I tend to avoid conflict as much as possible. But when I see extreme valuations and extreme dispersion and crowded trades, I have always felt the need to do the opposite.”
Last year was a case in point as the portfolio, composed of 38-42 stocks, was subject to turnover of 65%.
