Jon Dye will become Co-CIO of Ruffer in October, working alongside Henry Maxey in a structure that brings together macro judgement and stock-level research.
Dye joined Ruffer in 2010 as Head of Research, after discussions with Maxey during the financial crisis. Those conversations focused on the need to combine a broad view of the economy with detailed analysis of individual companies. He describes Maxey as a macro investor who understands stocks, and himself as a stock investor who understands macro. The result is a leadership pairing built around two different but connected ways of assessing risk and opportunity.
Ruffer’s approach is based on portfolio construction, not simply asset selection. Dye argues that assets need to do useful work both on their own and in combination with other holdings. This means looking for positions that can perform in different conditions and help offset each other when markets change. In the current cycle, that discipline is especially relevant. Assumptions about growth, inflation, interest rates and policy support are less reliable than they were during the era of very low rates.
Dye’s work on Japan shows how the process operates. His starting point was valuation, including banks trading on low price-to-book multiples and offering high dividend yields. Maxey’s starting point was the wider policy and economic backdrop in Japan. Together, the two perspectives helped turn a macro view into a more specific investment expression.
His recent bottom-up equity work points to the same discipline. Dye is value-oriented, but not tied to a narrow style label. He is focused on whether price properly reflects risk and reward.
Ruffer Investment Company Limited (LON:RICA) is a British investment company dedicated to investments in internationally listed or quoted equities or equity related securities
