A five-year-old mutual fund boutique just debuted its second fund. Watch for this entrepreneur to expand his team in two areas, but don't expect a smorgasbord of new funds to follow.

Andrew Foster Seafarer Capital Partners Founder and Chief Investment Officer

Larkspur, California-based Seafarer Capital Partners unveiled the Seafarer Overseas Value Fund last week. The fund is PMed by Paul Espinosa and co-PMed by Seafarer founder and chief investment officer Andrew Foster.

The 100-percent employee-owned boutique now has about $1.25 billion in AUM, predominantly in its flagship Seafarer Overseas Growth & Income Fund. Foster leads a team of nine people, including five in research and investing. Looking forward, Foster expects to be hiring people in research, and he also plans to add business development and client service staff to support Daniel Duncan.

"Our organization will probably be a bit bigger soon in terms of the number of people, but not much," Foster tells MFWire.

Foster, a Matthew Asia alumnus, started Seafarer in 2011 and launched the flagship fund in 2012. The boutique focuses on emerging markets around the globe, and the new fund represents Foster's first foray into the value side of investing.

"It's great to be a value investor. The problem is that emerging markets have been littered with value traps in the past," Foster says. "I'm more confident that the value traps of the past will be sprung."

To launch a value strategy, Foster says he wanted "someone that was a distinct and clear leader of that strategy." With Espinosa, who joined Seafarer two years ago, Foster says that "the stars aligned."

As for launching more strategies and thus more mutual funds, Foster says he leaves "open that possibility." Yet he's in no rush.

"One thing you won't see from us is a plethora of strategies," Foster says. "It's possible you may see us over the next 15 years launch one or two more strategies."

"We're definitely not intent to fill out a style or geographical matrix," Foster adds. "We're going to remain an emerging market manager first and foremost." 

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