Why Samir Arora of Helios Capital is betting on travel and PSU stocks
Samir Arora, founder and fund manager of portfolio management service (PMS) firm Helios Capital Management has often favoured three big investment themes—financials, consumptions and information technology (IT). But now, he is slightly tweaking his bets on these sectors. A bulk of Arora’s own equity investments have been made through Helios’ funds.
On the consumption side, he has turned cautious on traditional consumption themes such as consumer durables and consumer staple. Instead, he has now built up positions on a consumption sub-theme – travel. “Indian consumers want to spend more on experiences.
We have hotel stocks, train food catering stock, airline stocks and even a ticket-booking stock in our portfolios," he says. Arora, who has largely been cautious on PSUs (public sector units), has now added more of these state-run companies in the fund’s portfolio. Thus, last year, Helios’ Indian fund bought stocks of oil marketing companies Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL).
“These oil & gas stocks now account for 7-8% of our Indian funds," Arora said during an interaction with Mint for the Guru Portfolio series. In this series, leaders in the financial services industry share how they are handling their finances and investments. Equities form a major chunk of Arora’s asset allocation, about 85% of his portfolio.
Of the remaining, 10% is invested in gold and the remaining 5% is in debt. His equity portfolio comprises 40% of Indian stocks and 45% of global equities. Barring some of his legacy investments in the Indian markets, all of Arora’s equity investments have been made through Helios’ own funds.
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