Sarah Whitley, Baillie Gifford's head of the Japan equity team, explains why investors need to disconnect from the index and focus instead on fund performance. She also gives her views on the effectiveness of Abenomics and outlines the key factors driving change in the country today.
Did you always invest in Japan or did you start elsewhere? Baillie Gifford was a firm of just 35 people when I joined in 1980. It was what I called a 'geek firm' - a company where as long as there is enough revenue to pay people, there is no idea of maximising the business. There were some fantastically intelligent and rather eccentric people. I spent my first year sharing an office with Robin Angus, who is one of the directors of Personal Assets investment trust, which was an extremely interesting experience. I also worked for Max Ward and Douglas McDougall, mainly covering the UK ...
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