Usonian Japan Value Strategy

Management

Drew Edwards

Head of Usonian Japan Equity, Portfolio Manager

Mr. Edwards is the Head of GMO’s Usonian Japan Equity team and a portfolio manager for the team’s products. Mr. Edwards is a partner of the firm. Prior to joining GMO in 2020, he served as portfolio manager, Chief Investment Officer (CIO), and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Usonian Investments LLC. Mr. Edwards has been a member of the Usonian team since 2008. Prior to founding Usonian, he was Managing Director and portfolio manager at Advisory Research, Inc. Previously, Mr. Edwards had also been an investment professional at Taiyo Pacific Partners, an activist fund backed by CalPERS and W. L. Ross that focuses on Japanese equities, an investment banker at Lehman Brothers, and a finance executive in the health care industry. He earned his BA in International Business from Sophia University (Tokyo) and his MBA and JD from Northwestern University. Mr. Edwards is proficient in Japanese.

Colin Bekemeyer

Portfolio Manager

Mr. Bekemeyer is engaged in portfolio management and research for GMO’s Usonian Japan Equity team. Prior to joining GMO in 2021, he was a portfolio manager at Oaktree Capital Management. Previously, he was an analyst at Taiyo Pacific Partners, and prior to that was an investment banking associate at J.P. Morgan Securities. Mr. Bekemeyer earned his bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard University, his MBA in International Financial Economics and MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Bekemeyer is proficient in Japanese.

Overview

GMO’s Usonian Japan Value Strategy seeks long term capital appreciation over a full market cycle and measures its performance against the TOPIX Total Return Index (the “Index”) for performance comparison purposes. The Strategy employs a fundamental, value-oriented approach to invest in Japanese equities. Additionally, the Strategy focuses on protecting capital in down markets and strives to have lower total volatility compared to the Index.

In managing the Strategy, GMO’s Usonian Japan Equity team follows a disciplined, bottom-up approach using fundamental research to identify Japanese equities that we believe are undervalued and profitable with high quality balance sheets. The team spends considerable time developing a high level of knowledge about our companies and focusing on downside risk. Additionally, as long-term investors, we engage collaboratively with corporate management to unlock shareholder value.