Salvador Diaz-Verson, who manages a global equity fund that has been heavily invested in Latin America, told a breakfast meeting of the Atlanta Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Atlanta Wednesday, Feb. 22, that although Mexico’s long-term prospects are good, “the place to be” is Argentina.
Last September, the fund — Diaz-Verson Americas Equity Fund — was ranked as the top performing global fund in its field, but currently has fallen to last place, according to Lipper Analytical Services Inc. (See Globalfax, Vol 2, Issue 39, 9/30/94).
Mr. Diaz-Verson’s fund was hurt by its large Mexican holdings, but he remains confident in the country’s long-term prospects, predicting that Mexico would become the “low cost producer of the world.”
In February of last year, 70% of his fund’s holdings were in Mexican stocks, while only 2% are in them today.
Introduced by Mexico’s consul general, Teodoro Maus, Mr. Diaz-Verson did say that he now favors Argentina and Chile as the most attractive Latin American markets for 1995.
“Wall Street looks at Latin America as a whole,” he said, adding that it incorrectly assumes “as Mexico goes, so goes the rest of Latin America.”
He also predicted that Mexico’s stock market would be up by about 15% by next year if the peso stabilizes and restores investor confidence. He suggested that investors wait until the end of the first quarter to decide whether to re-enter the Mexican market. “One more shake-out,” he said, “before I will become a major investor again.”
For more information about the fund, call Scott Koser at (706) 660-1150; fax (706) 660-1215.
by Nicholas Babaian