Veteran investor Mark Mobius passes away at the age of 89. He died in Singapore, which was reported by his spokesperson Kylie Wong through a LinkedIn post. Mobius Investments partner John Ninia has also confirmed his death. Marc Mobius is credited with bringing global recognition to investing in emerging markets and was considered an icon of the sector.
According to the report, through his column last month, he shared his views about the ongoing war in Iran and its impact on the equity market. Mobius founded London-based Mobius Capital Partners in 2018 to oversee actively managed funds investing in emerging market equities. He departed from there at the end of 2023, but continued to look for new investment opportunities and started a new venture in Dubai, where he lived for three years.
Spent three decades with Franklin Templeton
Mark Mobius worked for more than three decades with Franklin Templeton Investments, where he became a leading advocate for investments in developing markets such as Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. He played an important role in establishing these areas as attractive opportunities for global investors.
In 1987, he was hired by John Templeton, after which he started one of the first mutual funds focused on emerging markets. He led the Templeton Emerging Markets Group for nearly three decades and is renowned for his ground-level research style, traveling around the world to directly assess companies and markets.
Excellent performance of the fund
He took retirement in January 2018. Under his leadership, the fund gave an average annual return of 13.4 percent from 1989 to retirement. The Templeton fund also outperformed the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which was launched in 2001, by giving an average return of 1.9 percent.
His identity in the investment world was so strong that experts considered him the biggest supporter and face of Emerging Markets. Mark Mobius was also known for his unique investing style. He used to travel 250-300 days every year to remote parts of the world and study companies on the ground.
Correct prediction of the bull market that started in 2009
He correctly predicted the bull market that started in 2009 and also made big profits by investing at the right time during the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and the Russian market crisis of 1998. Additionally, he was among the first major investors to consider Africa as a potential emerging market and launched the Templeton Africa Fund in 2012.
