Last month, the financial services industry sadly lost one if its most influential figures, Mark Mobius. Mark spent over three decades managing the Templeton Emerging Markets Group, before founding Mobius Capital Partners LLP. In this piece, Darius McDermott, Managing Director at FundCalibre, highlights four fund managers who could follow in the footsteps of Mark.
Mark Mobius is in the pantheon of the truly great asset management pioneers. For decades, he, more than any other single investment manager, helped bring the concept of investing in emerging markets to developed markets. He also played a key role in introducing these once niche regions to UK retail investors through the Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust.
Perhaps there will never be another manager quite like Mobius, but a new generation of FundCalibre Elite Rated managers is applying similar principles and frontier mentality, combining rigorous bottom-up analysis with a long-term mindset, to navigate an increasingly complex emerging markets universe — and deliver outperformance. Among them, four managers stand out for their consistency, experience, and disciplined approach: Austin Forey, Rajiv Jain, Michael Bourke, and Chetan Sehgal.
Austin Forey – compounding mindset
At the helm of the JPMorgan Emerging Markets Growth and Income Fund, Austin Forey embodies the patient, conviction-led style that defined Mobius’s success.
Forey has been managing emerging market portfolios since 1994 and has delivered strong returns over multiple market cycles. His philosophy is simple but powerful: focus on high-quality businesses and hold them for the long term, with some positions held for decades.
Rather than making macro calls, Forey concentrates on identifying companies with durable growth prospects. Backed by one of the industry’s largest emerging markets research teams, his approach is rooted in deep company analysis and long-term compounding, bearing the hallmarks of Mobius’s own style.
Rajiv Jain – quality growth with a forensic edge
As founder and lead manager of the GQG Partners Emerging Markets Equity Fund, Rajiv Jain represents a more modern evolution of the Mobius playbook.
With more than 25 years’ experience, Jain focuses on high-quality companies with sustainable earnings and strong balance sheets. His portfolios are concentrated and benchmark-agnostic, reflecting high conviction.
His edge lies in research. By combining traditional analysis with more forensic techniques, his team aims to uncover risks and opportunities others might overlook. The focus is firmly on future growth rather than past success, another trait that echoes Mobius’s pioneering mindset.
Michael Bourke – contrarian in a complex universe
The M&G Global Emerging Markets Fund, led by Michael Bourke, offers a disciplined and slightly contrarian interpretation of the Mobius philosophy.
Bourke has managed the strategy since 2018 and has built a strong track record underpinned by a clearly defined investment process. His approach is firmly bottom-up, focusing on company fundamentals such as profitability, valuation, and corporate governance rather than macroeconomic forecasting.
A key differentiator is the emphasis on real cash flow and shareholder alignment, which the team believes is especially important in the often unpredictable world of emerging markets. The portfolio is constructed using a “basket” approach, combining different types of companies to balance risk and return, while maintaining a long-term, low-turnover mindset.
Bourke’s willingness to take a contrarian stance and look beyond consensus opportunities reflects the same adventurous spirit that defined Mobius’s career, executed with a highly structured framework and deep resource.
Chetan Sehgal – balanced core emerging markets exposure
As co-manager of the Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust, Chetan Sehgal is a fairly direct continuation of the Mobius legacy at Franklin Templeton.
Since taking over in 2017, Sehgal has built a strong track record through a disciplined, ground-up approach focused on high-quality businesses with strong balance sheets, robust cash flow generation, and attractive valuations.
Supported by a global research platform of more than 70 analysts across 17 countries, his process combines deep local insight with a structured framework to identify long-term opportunities across emerging markets.
Sehgal’s focus on structural growth themes, sustainable earnings, and responsible stewardship, including ESG integration, mirrors many of the principles championed by Mobius, while adapting them to today’s more interconnected investment landscape.
