Citywire Scotland Retreat 2025

Historically, EM performance has been tied to the global investment cycle, with many companies producing tangible goods based in these regions. Now, a new global capital expenditure (capex) cycle, driven by technology, infrastructure, and growing domestic demand is creating both opportunities and risks for EM companies.

To navigate this opportunity and risk we believe an all-cap core approach that prioritises fundamental company research with deep cash flow analysis through an income lens has strong merit.  Join us to hear from Matt Williams, Senior Investment Director as he discusses why investors should consider diversifying into emerging markets to capture this opportunity.

Workshop Objective:
-Learn about why investors should consider diversifying into emerging markets
-Explore approaching investment through an income lens

Company Profile: Aberdeen Investments is a global specialist asset manager. We are dedicated to helping investors achieve their financial goals in a changing world by combining our specialist knowledge, global presence in more than 25 locations, our strong relationships and investing for the long term. As of December 2024, we manage £369.7bn of assets. Clients know us for our expertise in Asia and emerging markets, specialist equities, real assets and both public and private credit. Our solutions include investing for the needs of insurers and pension providers; managed portfolios; enhanced index and quant investing. At Aberdeen Investments, we strive to create investment opportunities for our clients beyond tomorrow.

Smaller companies often enjoy greater scope for growth compared to their larger peers and can leverage economies of scale to negotiate better terms with suppliers.
But for Mark Niznik and William Tamworth, managers of the Artemis UK Smaller Companies Fund and Artemis UK Future Leaders Plc, the appeal goes beyond these tangible advantages — it's about the power of driven, entrepreneurial individuals to meaningfully impact a company’s performance.

Workshop Objective: In this session, Mark and William will explore how the small-cap premium can reassert itself despite recent challenges.

Japan’s market is entering a dynamic new phase, powered by domestic revival, financial reform, and innovative sectors beyond traditional industries. Discover how a focus on resilient, high-growth companies is reshaping investment opportunities and why Japan’s evolving fundamentals offer compelling value for forward-looking investors.

Workshop Objective:
•    Understand how Japan’s domestic momentum and financial reforms are creating a self-sustaining growth story.
•    Explore leading-edge sectors and innovative companies driving Japan’s economic transformation beyond cyclical industries.
•    Learn strategies to capitalize on Japan’s hidden growth drivers while navigating global and cyclical challenges.

As investors turn to riskier bonds for higher income, diversification becomes essential. Preferred securities, with their attractive yields and unique characteristics, offer a compelling complement to high-yield bonds and traditional fixed income portfolios. Supported by strong fundamentals, the preferreds market is underpinned by resilient sectors—banks, insurers, and utilities—that continue to demonstrate solid capital positions and stable cash flows. In today’s environment, preferreds stand out as a strategic option for yield-focused investors.

Workshop Objective: To explore the strategic advantages of preferred securities; understand their attractive relative value vs. traditional fixed income, and gain insight into Cohen & Steers’ differentiated investment approach and capabilities in this space.

Company Profile: Dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in everything we do, Cohen & Steers, New York Stock Exchange listed company, is a leading global investment manager specializing in real assets and alternative income, focused on delivering alpha, income and diversification. Our teams are relentless in their drive to provide superior investment solutions and passionate about constantly innovating to meet the needs of clients today and anticipate their challenges of tomorrow.

How should investors be thinking about fixed income markets in 2025? Join Mike Riddell, portfolio manager of the Fidelity Strategic Bond Fund, to learn about the factors shaping global fixed income markets and how he is navigating a complex backdrop by leveraging alpha from across four core areas.

Workshop Objective: -Delegates will analyse the latest macro events and the implications for global fixed income markets
-Delegates will analyse four key sources of alpha:
•    Interest Rates
•    Inflation
•    Currencies
•    Credit
-Delegates will explore current example trades from across the four key alpha sources

Company Profile: At Fidelity International, our purpose is to work together to build better financial futures for our clients and we believe that investing, over the long-term, is critical to achieving that. As a family and management-owned company, we think generationally in terms of the services we build and provide, as well as the way in which we invest on our clients’ behalf.
Our focus is on delivering sustainable investment returns for our clients, while managing our impact on society and the environment. To do this, we incorporate sustainability into our business operations and our investment process, working with investee companies to help them operate more sustainably in order to deliver those long-term returns and secure a better future for all.

As the world transitions to a low-carbon economy and demand for essential infrastructure surges, infrastructure debt has emerged as a compelling investment opportunity. GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd provides long-term, predictable income by financing critical UK infrastructure, ranging from renewable energy to social housing.
Infrastructure debt offers attractive risk-adjusted returns, benefiting from inflation-linked cash flows and government-backed revenues. With growing policy support for infrastructure investment and an increasing need for private capital, GCP Infra is well-positioned to capitalise on these trends while delivering stable, long-term, and predictable income to investors.
Now is the time to invest in the assets that power the economy, secure, essential, and built for the future.

Workshop Objectives: Explore why infrastructure debt presents a compelling opportunity in today’s market – from rising demand for essential assets to attractive risk-adjusted returns.
Discuss how GCP Infrastructure Investments is positioned to capitalise on these trends – delivering stable, long-term income through a diversified portfolio of UK infrastructure assets.

Company Profile: Investment ideas for the long run
 
When we talk about the long run at Gravis, we’re not just thinking about returns. The way we see it, the most reliable returns are linked to the assets that are most vital to society and the economy.
 
That’s why we invest in things that will be needed for many years to come. Building on our investments in hospitals, schools and student accommodation we’ve expanded into increasingly important areas, such as renewable energy generation, supported living, logistics and data centres, to name but a few.
 
Gravis gives investors access to the more stable and predictable side of many of today’s most exciting themes – from infrastructure and real estate to clean energy and digital assets. Whatever the sector, and whether it’s through public or private markets, the result we aim for is reliable, long-term income for all our investors.

Ignore the US at your peril. The Magnificent Seven has dominated the US market, on both the upside and downside, but there is more to corporate America than a handful of new economy giants, argues John Weavers, manager of the M&G North American Dividend Fund. The US market remains unrivalled in its depth and breadth, as well as home to a variety of world-class companies beyond a narrow elite in technology. With valuations now more attractive, in both absolute and relative terms, it's time for a fresh look at the opportunities the US has to offer.

Company Profile: M&G Investments is an asset manager that connects the dots globally to identify investment opportunities.

Our global network of investment professionals connect world-class research capabilities with the diverse experiences and views of experts across multiple asset classes.

We call this Intelligence Connected.

We’ve been putting our clients at the centre of everything we do for over 90 years. And after launching Europe’s first-ever mutual fund back in 1931, we’re now recognised for our expertise in fixed income, private markets, multi-asset solutions and equities, including our growing range of sustainability-driven thematic equity products.

Today, we manage over £312bn* on behalf of individual and professional investors, including banks, pension funds, insurers, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, charities and advisors. And by investing for our internal client, we further enhance our ability to understand and act on our clients’ objectives.
 
As part of M&G plc, the international savings and investment business, we also have a shared purpose to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work.

*As at 30 June 2024

Volatility has been seemingly the only market constant in 2025, and uncertainty has weighed heavily on many portfolios. The painful failures of traditional sources of diversification in recent years have emphasised the need to incorporate truly uncorrelated, complementary sources of return into balanced portfolios. 
Equity and fixed income indexes ended 2024 near their highest correlation on record, as these two assets moved in relative lockstep for most of the preceding 36 months – and history shows that this was no fluke.
Investors have responded with increasing interest in alternative investments. Evolution in the alternative investment space has allowed us to evaluate and extrapolate different sources of alpha more effectively.  We believe that liquid alternatives can play a key role in addressing the diversification dilemma.

Workshop Objective: To educate about liquid alternatives, including portfolio purposes and evolutions in the alternative investment space that have allowed us to evaluate and extrapolate different sources of alpha more effectively.  

Company Profile: MSIM, with $1.7 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2024, is a client-centric organization dedicated to providing investment and risk-management solutions to a wide range of investors and institutions including corporations, pension plans, intermediaries, sovereign wealth funds, central banks, endowments and foundations, governments and consultant partners worldwide. 

With over four decades of asset management experience, our investment strategies span the risk/return spectrum across geographies, investment styles and asset classes, including equity, fixed income, alternatives and private markets. MSIM offers its clients personalized attention, the intelligence and creativity of some of the brightest professionals in the industry, and access to the global resources of Morgan Stanley.

With cash rates peaking & bond yields at attractive levels, many investors have begun to either increase or return fixed income into their portfolios. They are doing so in an exceptionally dynamic environment. The return of high inflation made the recent rate-hiking cycle one of the most rapid & aggressive ever. The demands of the pandemic have left government balance sheets under strain, while many companies managed to strengthen their balance sheets with cheap, long-term borrowing while rates were low. This has left bond market risks constantly shifting, creating pitfalls & often fleeting value opportunities. We will explore that environment through the Neuberger Berman Global Flexible Credit Income Fund.

Workshop Objective: Share insights to effectively navigate the return to fixed income investments in the context of dynamic market conditions, rate hikes, strained government finances, and shifting risks in the bond market. 

Company Profile: Neuberger Berman was founded in 1939 to do one thing: deliver compelling investment results for our clients over the long term. This remains our singular purpose today, driven by a culture rooted in deep fundamental research, the pursuit of investment insight and continuous innovation on behalf of clients, and facilitated by the free exchange of ideas across the organization.
As a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager, Neuberger Berman is structurally aligned with the long-term interests of our clients. We have no external parent or public shareholders to serve, nor other lines of business to distract us from our core mission. And with our employees and their families invested alongside our clients—plus 100% of employee deferred cash compensation directly linked to team and firm strategies—we are truly in this together.

In markets, great expectations have a tight relationship with great returns--if it's past returns you care about. If you're focused on the future, the reverse is true. When expectations are high, so is risk. As we look across markets today, we see all sorts of things that only make sense with great expectations: valuations in the US, crowding in stockmarkets, faith in low inflation, and concentrations in adviser portfolios, to name just a few. 

Looking at individual assets provides a different perspective. While expectations are high in some areas, they are depressed in others. For independent-minded investors, the neglected parts of markets provide opportunities to improve diversification, reduce risk, and enhance long-term returns.

Workshop Objectives:
Understand the types of expectations embedded in stockmarket prices.
Articulate the link between those expectations and future returns.
Explain the relationships between debt, inflation, and bond returns.
Distinguish between name diversification and fundamental diversification.

Company Profile: Orbis has been creating value for clients for more than 30 years. 

We work to find opportunities others miss, but this means investing in unpopular areas of the market, which takes courage and patience. Our long-term approach is at the core of everything we do, from the way we invest, the company structure, and even the way we charge fees. 

Our team of 60 investment professionals located around the world does comprehensive research evaluating businesses from the bottom up to identify businesses priced at less than they are worth with long-term prospects. Since it can take time for these companies to realise their true value, our business is structured to avoid pressure for short-term performance with no external shareholders. Our independence allows us to prioritise clients, make bold but considered decisions and to stand by them as long as we need to. 

And our unique fee structure ensures we remain driven to deliver long-term returns.

We live in revolutionary times. President Trump has returned to the White House against a backdrop of generational tectonic shifts in economics and world order. His own radical agenda is injecting additional volatility into an investment ecosystem optimised for the absence of it. Trump is just the latest signal that the low inflation, low-rate low volatility post-Cold War I environment is giving way to a new, more unstable regime. From fragmenting world order featuring wars hot and cold, to Europe’s fiscal volte-face and a new industrial revolution including AI, the energy transition and digital finance, upheaval is here to stay. In this discussion Alex Chartres, senior fund manager and geo-political specialist will discuss our latest thinking about many of these key macro considerations that are driving markets today. We will explore possible ways to protect and prosper in a higher volatility, fatter tailed environment.

Workshop Objective:
•    Understand how changes in world order, technology and other long-term forces are likely to impact the macro investing environment
•    Identify investment risks and opportunities as a result of generation regime change 
•    Understand how portfolio construction and diversification may need to be adjusted to address regime change

 Following the recent release of the film director’s uncut versions of "Mad Trump: Fury Road" and "Dude, Where's My Money?", the spotlight is back on the fixed income market. As these two future classics make old scenarios look dated, critics and audiences are pondering the implications of Trump policies on economic stability. Join us as we explore the breadth of opportunities to deliver income and returns, and navigate the evolving jungle of fixed income in our presentation focusing on the Schroder Strategic Bond fund.

Workshop Objectives: -    Understand the implications of the current market environment on fixed income markets
-    Identify the benefits of a strategic, dynamic investment approach to generate alpha
-    Assess the current risks and opportunities for fixed income investors

Company Profile: We are a leading provider of active asset management, advisory and wealth management services. Recognised as a leader in sustainability. Few investment managers can match the combination of capabilities and global reach that we offer.
This breadth of services across public and private markets allows us to design distinctive solutions for the diverse needs of clients. They look to us to provide excellent long-term investment outcomes, and it is our duty always to act in their best interests. That is a responsibility we take seriously – and we believe that when we succeed for clients, society and the wider world benefit too.

In a world where financial markets are seemingly fixated by the policy moves of central banks and where inflation and interest rates may be headed next, Peter Bates, Portfolio Manager, Global Select Equity, takes a different approach. Running a diversified portfolio of some 30-45 holdings, Peter seeks to combine the best of conviction stock picking with thoughtful portfolio construction, so that alpha is driven by active stock picking rather than the pathway of the US Federal Reserve, market cycles or investment styles. Join Peter to hear how he navigates market complexity and cyclicality in a concentrated, style-balanced global portfolio.

Workshop Profile: Understand how conviction stock picking and balanced portfolio construction can drive alpha, independent of market cycles and central bank policies.

Company Profile: 

US equities has dominated flows in the last few years and with rapidly shifting headline news requires investors to respond proactively for the longer term. 

We will discuss how investors might search for opportunities outside of the US, looking at:
-After years of underperformance vs the US, which regions are showing signs of recovery
-Sector Investing and the overlooked diversification potential
-The advantages of GBP hedged share classes in the current market environment.

Workshop Objective: To impart key allocation considerations to delegates, looking beyond short term volatility  

Company Profile: Xtrackers, the passive solutions platform by DWS has one of the largest and most established product ranges in Europe, with a global presence and more than £200 billion  in assets under management (as of March 2025). Xtrackers has an index track record going back over 20 years and offers a broad range of efficient, high-quality ETFs and ETCs on all major asset classes – equities, bonds and commodities, as well as bespoke strategies through index funds and segregated mandates. Xtrackers provides numerous building blocks across all wrappers for traditional investment strategies, ESG strategies (environmental, social, governance), sector and factor investments, as well as innovative products on thematic investments and future trends.