"At Legatum, we have a passion for effective capital allocation and the contribution this can make to the global community."
"Our goal is to help build trust-based capital markets for the benefit of the countries in which we invest."
Legatum Capital is a long term value-oriented portfolio investor. Based in Dubai, Legatum Capital is strategically located mid-way between Asia and Europe, which enables us to cover the world's largest capital markets in a single business day. We have found from experience that we gain greater insight into investment opportunities from a distance.
Legatum Capital was founded in 2006 by Christopher Chandler. New Zealand-born, Mr. Chandler was formerly President of the holding company for Sovereign Global Investment ("Sovereign") which he co-founded in 1986. From 1986 to 2006, Sovereign provided capital to companies and governments from Asia and Africa to Latin America and Eastern Europe, and industries ranging from banking and energy to telecoms, power and steel.
In response to the challenges of scale brought about by Sovereign's extraordinary success, and in order to retain the creative and entrepreneurial cultures necessary to maintain this performance, Sovereign's investment portfolio was demerged into two new and independent entities in December 2006.
Building something of quality and lasting value takes time. As a private investment institution, Legatum has the freedom to invest on the basis of our beliefs and to adopt investment strategies that maximize absolute performance over the long term.
We are not a mutual fund, which measures performance against peer groups and which is susceptible to changes in portfolio managers and investment fashions. We are not a hedge fund, which needs to report short term performance and who typically employ significant leverage and engage in the short sale of securities. We are not a private equity fund, which must return capital to its investors on a fixed date. Our focus is on building strong companies and trust-based capital markets. The common denominator in all of our investments is the desire to optimise the allocation of capital for the benefit of shareholders, companies and the community alike.
At Legatum, we have a passion for effective capital allocation and the contribution this can make to the global community as well as to our own organisation. We believe that the creation and management of capital is a noble calling and that the successful allocation of this vital resource assists in financing industry and government, creating employment, reducing poverty and providing opportunity for individual growth and fulfilment.
Managing capital is an important responsibility. Our success is inseparable from the prosperity of the capital markets in which we operate. Responsible investors, as providers of capital, can play an important role in nurturing the health of the capital marketplace by promoting effective regulation, encouraging management transparency and ensuring accountability for capital investment decisions. Our goal is to help build trust-based capital markets in which a nation's financial and intellectual capital is allocated efficiently to those organisations and companies who need it most and use it best.
As members of the local, national and global communities in which we operate, we believe that we have a responsibility to use our human, financial and intellectual capital (what we call capital³) to positively shape the future. We seek to do this both through our investment activities and through the work of Legatum Global Development.
