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I choose the restaurants for this column. It is an unwritten rule that I made a few months in. If someone has a shortlist of favourite places, or loves a certain cuisine, that is fine. I still choose.
It is not because I am mean-spirited or unadventurous. It just makes the job of being a disinterested critic that much harder when the person across the table is enthusing about the yak butter pancakes, while you are downing beer like a sailor on shore leave to take the taste away.
But I just could not say "no" to Sandy Nairn. Not only did he have a recommendation, a close family member was involved. Things then got worse. She owned the place with her partner and was, wait for it, in the kitchen. I had no choice; the golden rule went out of the window. But as we discussed the arrangement, a bead of sweat trickled down my brow and a silent scream pierced the air. This could be so awkward.
Boy was I ever wrong to worry. Bia Bistrot was an unalloyed joy. On reflection, this was never really in doubt. "Undiscovered gems" are Sandy's stock in trade. In the manner of his mentor Sir John Templeton, he scours the world's equity markets, sifting the justly unloved from the unfairly neglected. It is an unconstrained, value-oriented, stock picking style that has served Edinburgh Partners well. Founded in 2003, the firm now manages more than $12bn.
For Nairn, this conspicuous success in a fiercely competitive field is not mainly due to investment style or even process. Unconstrained managers have generally had a torrid time of late. What sets his firm apart, he believes, is structure, people and culture. The investment team at Edinburgh Partners, including Nairn, are all first and foremost analysts.
"In most firms analysts are juniors,"...