mir investment management

So MIR were dumb enough to buy 5.5% of IOF. And smart enough to buy put options at 78c for at least one tenth of that exposure. Hmmmm.

From their website:

MIR Investment Management Pty. Ltd. was established in June 2003 and commenced managing Australian equities in January 2004 and Asian ex-Japan equities in June 2007. MIR is headquartered in Sydney and has offices in Singapore and Melbourne with approximately A$6.4bn in assets under management as at 31 December 2007. MIR offers long and long-short strategies in both Australian and Asian ex-Japan equities all of which demonstrate strong value characteristics.

MIR's investment process is based on the belief that superior long-term results can be achieved by exploiting market inefficiencies, including those generated by the cognitive biases and behavioural weaknesses that affect investor decision making. MIR recognizes the efficacy of quantitative screens to identify a sub-universe of stocks which has the potential to outperform, but is cognizant of the fact that the quantitative process is a blunt instrument and that a number of stocks selected by a quantitative screening process may underperform. MIR believes that qualitative analysis, based on independent sources, can reveal some of these underperforming stocks selected by a quantitative screening process and thereby improve investment performance.

There are two aspects of every investment—one that can be captured in numbers and one that is best grasped through a common sense evaluation of available information. Superior performance requires a coordinated implementation of both approaches. Many investment firms stake their performance on one partial view of reality: the quantitative or qualitative. Quantitative investors tend to reject real-world knowledge while fundamental investors sometimes operate without the discipline—and insight—provided by a quantitative framework. MIR's process combines a quantitative and a qualitative process in equal proportions to develop what we believe is a superior investment process.

MIR is an absolute return focused manager, operating within institutional constraints. MIR invests in stocks if it believes that the company has investment potential, not because the company has a high index weight.

MIR values the discipline of a robust investment process, backed by strong academic research. MIR believes that the investment process should be dynamic and take advantage of new academic and investment insights in a manner transparent to its stakeholders.

MIR is totally owned by its staff with no external shareholders. MIR has a total staff complement of forty five comprising twenty seven investment professionals, which includes a quantitative research team of twelve covering Asia ex-Japan and Australia, and two separate qualitative research teams of six analysts each covering Asia ex-Japan and Australia. MIR is a firm believer in having on-the-ground qualitative research and as such has based the entire Asia ex-Japan qualitative team in MIR's Singapore office, while the Australian qualitative research team is based in MIR's Sydney office. The quantitative research team is spread across MIR's Sydney and Melbourne offices. The senior investment staff all have equity in MIR and invest personally in the MIR products.

MIR was established with the objectives of transparency to its stakeholders, no compromise on excellence and a determination to pursue high alpha outcomes.