Emerging market pioneer Dr Mark Mobius has announced the end to his multi-decade career in finance at the age of 87.
Mobius, who spent over 30 years at Franklin Templeton, co-founded Mobius Capital Partners in 2018 and will leave the business in the hands of founding partner Carlos Hardenberg. Hardenberg has worked alongside Mobius for over 23 years.
“Our journey over the past five years has been marked by progress, and we are genuinely grateful for the results we have achieved,” Hardenberg said.
“We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Mark for his exceptional contributions to emerging market investing over his long career and more recently to MCP [Mobius Capital Partners] and MMIT [the Mobius Investment Trust] over the last five years. Mark’s dedication has been instrumental to our success. As we look forward to the future, I intend to promote our most talented employees to the role of partners. This is to acknowledge their strong performance and commitment to MCP.”
Mobius is executive chair of the Templeton Emerging Markets Group, which he grew from $100m assets under management to $50bn. He launched funds across Asian, Latin American, Eastern European, and African markets. Mobius has also authored 12 different books.
Maria Luisa Cicognani, chair of MMIT, said: “Mark and Carlos have been instrumental to MMIT’s success and outperformance since our IPO, and with Mark now intending to leave the partnership, we would like to express our immense gratitude to him for his advice and expertise over the years.
“We look forward to continuing to work with Mark, drawing on his support and vast knowledge of emerging markets, as MCP progresses with a strong and committed team led by Carlos which we are confident will continue to deliver outstanding results for our shareholders.”
Mobius Capital Partners is home to the Mobius Emerging Markets fund and the Mobius Investment Trust PLC. The trust held £163.9m in total net assets as of the end of September with 61.1% in the technology sector.
“I am proud of the investment team’s strong performance during the last five years which proves that a concentrated and differentiated portfolio of high-quality stocks can generate exceptional returns,” Mobius said. “As a shareholder of the MMIT, I will be following the company’s progress closely and will continue to be available to the team and the Board.”
