FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why is Hibonite Fund domiciled in the U.S. but administered from Mauritius?
The goal behind this dual jurisdictional arrangement is to offer a fully transparent Fund that is governed by strict U.S. regulatory laws while minimizing the cost to administer the Fund.
One of Mauritius’ main strengths is its highly competent and educated workforce, especially in the areas of finance and law. Mauritius boasts an overall literacy rate of about 92% which is amongst the highest in the world.
The setting-up of highly specialized international training institutions in the country and the provision of free education to the population have produced a cohort of talented multi-disciplinary employees.
To tap into this pool of highly skilled workforce, several global investment management firms have their operations set up in Mauritius, notably Fundsmith (>£26 bn in AUM), Geneva Management Group (>$1 bn in AUM), Sanlam Private Wealth Mauritius (>$100 bn in AUM), TAM Asset Management, PLEION Investment Adviser, LS Advisors, Necker Gestion Privée, Citigroup Venture Capital International, Carlyle Mauritius (part of the Carlyle Group) amongst several others.
Triple Core has access to first-class employees by running its operations from Mauritius.Is an investment in Triple Core right for all investors?
If an investor does not intend to hold its investments in Triple Core for at least five years, then our strategy is unlikely to be right for him/her.
In addition, investors seeking a guaranteed, market-linked, fixed income or short-term trading gains, should not invest in Triple Core.Is Triple Core available to U.S. persons?
Triple Core is currently only available to non-U.S. persons. We hope to make Triple Core available to U.S. persons in the future and will let you know when we do.
What are the comparative advantages of Mauritius?
The Mauritius International Financial Centre (IFC) offers world-class financial and management services and an attractive legal and tax regime.
Mauritius is ranked first in Africa for political and economic stability, ease of doing business and the strength of its governance and institutions.
In administering the strategy from Mauritius, numerous benefits are accrued:
(a) Lower administrative costs
(b) Attractive tax system: 0% taxes on capital gains and dividends
(c) Access to a highly skilled workforce
(d) No exchange control nor currency or foreign exchange control
(e) Impressive track record of political and economic stability
(f) Emerging opportunities in new markets of Africa and Asia thanks to the country’s geopolitics
(g) Commonwealth status of the country
(h) Bilingual identity – English and French
(i) Dual legal system, combining the advantages of Common & Civil LawHow liquid is your capital?
With Triple Core, you can add and withdraw capital at the end of each month. However, we strongly encourage you to have the perspective of a long-term oriented investor with patient capital.
How is Triple Core positioned to address a potential market turmoil along with inflation and interest rate risks?
Triple Core invests in the best public businesses globally (stocks) at material discounts to their intrinsic value, while maintaining dry powder to profit from market disruptions and opportunistically shorting.
We aim to develop a knowledge advantage to identify wonderful businesses. We follow a rigorous fundamental research process, both quantitative and qualitative, to determine which businesses meet our checklist. We are disciplined and do not compromise. Our greatest strength is that our strategy’s focus on first principles allows us to be patient and have strong stomachs. They are fundamental to generating long-term performance.
While we are not particularly concerned with short term underperformance and volatility, we do like to profit from short-term market disruptions. We do so by varying our cash position depending on market conditions. This way, when markets are in turmoil and present attractive opportunities, we can profit from them. Another way that we are positioned to profit from falling markets is by opportunistically taking short positions in overvalued stocks. This offers downside protection and allows us to potentially earn profits when markets decline.How is Triple Core positioned with respect to cryptocurrencies, gold or timber?
Triple Core is not run as a commodity fund. However, we seek opportunities across a wide spectrum. Our strategy is to invest in securities or areas where there is value and potential for returns, irrespective of which securities or sectors offer such opportunities. We are not mandated to limit our investments to certain areas. The only litmus test for us is if the investment will generate returns on a long-term basis. This freedom allows Triple Core to invest across a wide spectrum, including limited allocations to cryptocurrencies, gold mining companies, agricultural production companies, oil & gas companies and infrastructure companies, amongst others. Such breadth allows our portfolio to stay robust as market conditions vary but also allows our strategy to seek returns in harder-to-find areas.
How has Triple Core been able to deliver exceptional returns since Covid affected the markets?
Our strategy of maintaining cash positions has allowed us to capture investment opportunities when valuations came down during Covid. Additionally, we were able to invest in businesses that benefited substantially from increased online activity resulting from Covid lockdown.
You don’t greenwash the strategy and yet you invest in green-energy related companies. How so?
Triple Core does not follow short-term trends nor green wash its strategy. However, it invests in solid companies that have durable competitive advantages and that offer goods and services to growing markets at high profits. These may include companies that supply the green-energy sector.
Can you give us examples of what constitute good investments in the Triple Core strategy?
There’s an old adage: “in a gold rush, sell the shovels”. When people start chasing after the next hot thing, it’s often wiser to supply the chase, rather than to join in on the chase itself. One of the biggest gold rushes amongst investors in 2019 was ride-sharing. Think: Uber’s targeted $120B valuation, or Lyft’s IPO. Don't get us wrong, there’s gold at the end of this rainbow, but every gold rush needs a shovel. Uber pays Amazon for computing infrastructure, Visa/Mastercard for payment processing, and Facebook/Google for advertising. The shovels can sometimes be better businesses than the gold itself.