ICICI Prudential Contra Strategy

ICICI Prudential Contra Strategy is helmed by Anand Shah, a seasoned fund manager with over two decades of investment experience and a strong pedigree in the mutual fund space. A PGDM from IIM Lucknow, Anand has previously served in key leadership roles, including Deputy CEO and Head of Investments at BNP Paribas, as well as Head of Equities at Canara Robeco and Co-Head Equities at ICICI Prudential AMC. His track record in managing both domestic and global mandates brings a balanced perspective to his current role.

The core philosophy of the Contra Strategy is rooted in contrarian thinking—buying into stocks and sectors that are currently out of favour but are fundamentally sound and poised for a turnaround. This could mean investing in businesses that are undergoing temporary challenges, industry slowdowns, or sentiment-led neglect. The key is to identify players within these sectors that are either the most competent or the most likely to survive and thrive once the cycle reverses.

The strategy often looks at high-entry-barrier businesses where the current phase of the business cycle is weak, but long-term fundamentals remain intact. A key area of interest is industries going through consolidation—where weaker players exit and survivors gain market share. Anand also explores special situations such as mergers, spinoffs, changes in holding structures, or other events that can act as catalysts for value unlocking.

Stock selection follows a stringent process where metrics like Return on Equity, Return on Capital Employed, Market Cap to Cash Profit ratio, and governance quality are deeply assessed. The style is distinctly contrarian, but it isn’t reckless—it focuses on businesses where earnings potential outpaces the current stock price performance, thereby creating a favourable risk-reward scenario.

The portfolio is concentrated with high-conviction ideas but still maintains enough diversification to avoid overexposure to any single theme or sector. The aim is to ride a four-year-plus earnings recovery cycle, where improving capital efficiency leads to superior returns.

The minimum investment is ₹50 lakhs, making it suitable for investors who are patient, forward-looking, and comfortable taking a differentiated route when the market moves the other way. For those who believe that market sentiment often overreacts—and want to profit from that mispricing—this strategy offers a disciplined, research-backed path.

Enclosing a webinar done with the fund manager – PMS AIF WORLD x ICICI

ICICI Prudential PMS Contra Strategy aims to provide long term capital appreciation and generate returns by investing in underperforming stocks or sectors, which are available at intrinsic valuations and are expected to perform well in the long run. It seeks to generate capital appreciation by investing predominantly in Equity & Equity Related Instruments through contrarian investing. For defensive consideration, the Strategy may invest in debt and money market mutual fund schemes.

ICICI Prudential PMS Contra Strategy aims to identify tomorrow’s leaders by picking businesses that are benefitting from both earnings growth and P/E rating.

As the name suggests, the core motive of ICICI Prudential PMS Contra Strategy is to follow a contrarian approach to investing.

• Businesses going through Unfavourable Business Cycle
• Competent players
• Survivors within the sectors

Industry Consolidation

• Industry challenges lead to reduction in players
• Distress exit of one, can lead to growth for another

Special Situations

• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Changes in subsidiary holdings
• Spin-offs in products or departments

The core belief of ICICI Prudential PMS Contra Strategy is that Companies create wealth, not markets.

The investment framework of ICICI Prudential PMS Contra Strategy is to identify prominent businesses at reasonable valuations, which have competent management.

Prominent Businesses

• A focused portfolio of investment ideas, agnostic to market capitalisations. ICICI Prudential PMS Contra Strategy aims to invest across market capitalisation.

• Optimal diversification across stocks, with the opportunity to be overweight vis-à-vis its benchmark, S&P BSE 200, on certain high conviction picks, to potentially generate higher alpha.

• In case of debt exposures, ICICI Prudential PMS Contra Strategy may invest in debt instruments through money market/liquid/short term mutual fund schemes of ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund.

• ICICI Prudential PMS Contra Strategy may not be restricted by any particular investment style and may opt for flexibility to select stocks across investment styles.

• ICICI Prudential PMS Contra Strategy may aim to use cash as a hedge against sharp declines in equity in an endeavour to protect the Strategy.

• In 2024, ICICI Prudential PMS Contra Strategy was awarded 2nd as the Best PMS across all categories, on a 5Y Risk-Adjusted Returns. These Awards were hosted by PMS AIF WORLD, in association with IIM-Ahmedabad.

• In 2023, ICICI Prudential PMS Contra Strategy was awarded as the Best PMS across all categories, on a 1Y Risk-Adjusted Returns. These Awards were hosted by PMS AIF WORLD, in association with IIM-Ahmedabad.

• In 2021, ICICI Prudential Long Short Fund, a Cat III Long Short AIF, was awarded as the Best AIF in the Cat III Long Short category, on a 2Y Absolute Returns basis. These Awards were hosted by PMS AIF WORLD, in association with IIM-Ahmedabad.