INVESTMENT STRATEGY
Concentrated capital for enduring businesses.
We build concentrated portfolios of high-quality global businesses where competitive advantage, reinvestment opportunity and valuation combine to offer attractive prospective returns.
THE SWELL global PORTFOLIO
A focused portfolio, deliberately held.
We invest in a small number of businesses where our research supports genuine conviction. Portfolios remain liquid, with withdrawals generally processed within 5–7 business days.
investment OBJECTIVE
9% p.a. after fees over rolling three year periods
PORTFOLIO SIZE
10–20 companies
CASH ALLOCATION
Flexibility to hold cash when opportunities are limited
TIME HORIZON
Five to seven years
Top 5 holdings
22 Sep 2026
Amazon
12.0%
Microsoft
10.0%
Intercontinental Exchange
9.0%
Alphabet
7.0%
Uber
6.5%
THE INVESTMENT FRAMEWORK
A repeatable process. Applied with judgement.
Our process is deliberately simple to explain and demanding to execute. Each step protects the integrity of the next.
01
Identify durable global compounders
Focus on businesses with sustained returns on invested capital and disciplined capital allocation—the foundation for long-term compounding.
02
Assess competitive advantage and reinvestment runway
We analyse industry structure, pricing power, capital intensity and long-term growth drivers to understand how a business can continue creating value.
03
Underwrite prospective returns with discipline
We estimate intrinsic value using multiple valuation frameworks and require an expected return that adequately compensates for uncertainty and risk.
04
Size positions based on conviction and risk
Capital is allocated according to valuation, downside risk and expected long-term return so the portfolio reflects our strongest ideas.
05
Monitor the thesis and prospective return
We continuously reassess business fundamentals, valuation and portfolio risk, adjusting positions when the thesis, prospective return or opportunity cost changes.
EXAMPLE IN PRACTICE — AMAZON
Our process in practice.
THE BUSINESS
Amazon operates global platforms spanning cloud infrastructure, e-commerce, advertising and subscription services. Its scale, customer relationships and physical and digital infrastructure create advantages that would be difficult to replicate.
WHY IT QUALIFIES
Amazon combines durable competitive positions with significant opportunities to reinvest. AWS continues to benefit from the migration of computing workloads to the cloud, while the retail business can improve profitability as its fulfilment network matures.
WHAT DRIVES VALUE
Long-term value creation depends on continued growth in AWS, improved retail efficiency, expansion of higher-margin services and management’s ability to reinvest capital at attractive rates.
WHAT WE MONITOR
We closely follow AWS growth and competitive positioning, returns on infrastructure investment, retail margins, capital intensity and free cash flow. We also assess whether emerging technologies strengthen or weaken Amazon’s long-term advantages.
VALUATION AND POSITION SIZE
Our position reflects both conviction in the business and the prospective return available at the prevailing share price. As either changes, so may the size of our investment.
INVESTMENT DISCIPLINE
Discipline gives conviction a framework.
What we look for
Durable competitive advantages
A long reinvestment runway
Attractive prospective returns
When we stay invested
The investment thesis remains intact
The business continues to create value
The prospective return remains attractive
When we act
New evidence changes the thesis
The prospective return becomes insufficient
Risk or opportunity cost favours reallocating capital
INDEPENDENT CUSTODY
Your assets remain independently held.
Swell manages your portfolio but does not hold client assets or cash. Your assets are held in your name with Interactive Brokers, and you retain beneficial ownership.
Aligned with the people we serve.
Our framework has been applied consistently since inception. We invest alongside our clients and seek relationships shaped by a disciplined, multi-year orientation.
Contact
For investors who think beyond the short term
We work with a limited number of investors seeking a concentrated approach to global investing.
© 2026 Swell Asset Management. All rights reserved.
Past performance is not indicative of future results.
The information in this website (the ‘Information’) has been prepared by Swell Asset Management ABN 16168141204 (‘Swell Asset Management’, ‘we’ or ‘us’) a Corporate Authorised Representative No. 465285 of Hughes Funds Management Pty Limited ABN 42167950236, who is a holder of an Australian Financial Services Licence AFSL No. 460572 and authorised to provide financial services to wholesale clients only.