Do frontier markets make a good commodities play?
Mobius: The commodities arena is really very wide, and it includes normal emerging markets as well as frontier markets. In fact, I would say that one of the attractions of frontier markets is not only that they’re in the commodities arena, but that they’re also an opportunity to get into the consumer arena more easily. When you look at disposable consumer goods, the large multinationals are usually the first in. They buy up the large companies that are established brands, and very often these companies don’t find their way into the equity markets. In the frontier area, there are more of these available. Crigger: When investors look at a frontier market, what criteria should they use to evaluate whether it’s a good investment or not? Mobius: We use the same criteria that we would use for any market in the world. First and foremost is the balance sheet. We look at whether the company is faithful, in terms of its balance sheet. Then we look at earnings and earnings potential. And most imp
