This quarter’s special topic examines the indigenous semiconductor ecosystem taking shape in China across its four building blocks: logic foundry, memory, fabrication equipment and fabless chip design.

The Variis Stakeholder Investing approach combines quality analysis—including moat analysis and management assessment—with a curated list of high-quality investment opportunities.

The Variis strategy includes seven investments in emerging-market businesses with developed-market analogues, totaling 30.3% of the portfolio in early January 2025.

The company prefers investing in a global emerging markets strategy over narrower country or regional focuses.

Each letter introduces a topic to provide insight into the company’s process and philosophy, such as Variis Stakeholder Investing.

The company focuses on a concentrated portfolio of long-term investments in high-quality, attractively valued businesses to deliver superior returns.

Jamie Carter has over 25 years of investment management experience, including roles at Oldfield Partners, Longview Partners, and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers.

Leila has 28 years of experience investing in emerging markets. She was Co-CIO and PM at Pelham Global Financials where she spent 7 years until August 2022. Prior to that she held PM roles investing in emerging markets at Visium, Och Ziff, RAB Capital and Schroders. Leila has particular expertise in the EMEA and Latam regions, as well as in the financial services business franchises. Leila was born in Canada and grew up in the UK from Egyptian/Lebanese and US parents. She received a first-class

Rufus has 18 years of experience investing in emerging markets. He was a Partner, PM and Chair of the investment committee at Genesis Investment Management until June 2022. Additionally, at Genesis, Rufus led the investment team in covering China, and was a member of the partnership’s ESG Integration Group. Prior to Genesis, he was a PM at Fidelity International. Rufus grew up in the US and China and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. Rufus attended Pomona College in California as an undergraduate a

Variis is a majority female-owned investment boutique in London managing a high-conviction global emerging markets equity strategy, launched in October 2023.

A single, high-conviction Global Emerging Markets long-only equity strategy, managed by a partner-owned firm in London.