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Dr. Mark Mobius: A key figure in history of Sri Lanka's post-war ...
Dr. Mark Mobius (left) with the writer Nivard Cabraal during a meeting in Colombo (File photo) By Nivard Cabraal It is with great sadness that I just learnt about the demise of Mark Mobius, a dear friend, Executive Chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, and the legendary emerging markets investor. Mark Mobius and I developed a professional relationship and a friendship, built on shared values and mutual respect, particularly during the post-conflict era of Sri Lanka’s economic development around 2009-2010. He trusted Sri Lanka’s sovereign debt and economic potential, when many foreign investors were skeptical, and the Templeton Emerging Markets Group, under his leadership, purchased nearly $ 1 billion in Treasury Bonds in the years following 2009. If my memory serves me right, I think foreign investors including Templeton held about $3.4 billion as investments in Sri Lankan Government Securities by end 2014. Templeton’s confidence in the Sri Lankan paper was often based on Mark’s regular high-level discussions with me when I served as the Central Bank Governor, and his confidence in the Sri Lankan economy at that time also helped Sri Lankan entities to attract other equity and fixed market investments, as well. After our meetings, Mark often endorsed our policies in his public pronouncements whilst also expressing confidence in the Sri Lankan Rupee’s stability, emphasising that the currency stability was based on confidence in the economy and not just on the interest rates. Mark’s support of our post-war strategy of leveraging foreign inflows to fund infrastructure, was a key cornerstone for the optimistic outlook in our economy. With his demise, Sri Lanka has lost an invaluable partner Overall, Mark’s support of our post-war strategy of leveraging foreign inflows to fund infrastructure, was a key cornerstone for the optimistic outlook in our economy. In that context, his advocacy and support for our policies of maintaining a stable exchange rate and low interest rates to support economic growth, was very helpful in shaping Sri Lanka’s financial landscape at that time. Even after I relinquished duties as Governor in early January 2015, Mark and I maintained a professional dialogue, and in December 2019, we met again when I was serving as the Prime Minister’s Senior Advisor on Economic Affairs. At that meeting, we were able to discuss how to attract further equity and fixed-income investments including investments in Government Securities to Sri L...
Sri Lanka's key post-war bond investor Mark Mobius dies at 89
Mark Mobius, the emerging market guru and Sri Lanka’s main foreign investor into the island nation’s government bonds after the end of the war died at the age of 89.Known globally as the pioneer of emerging markets, Mobius was more than just a fund manager to Sri Lanka.He died on Wednesday at the age of 89, according to a statement on his LinkedIn page. The post did not mention a cause of death.Known for his willingness to unlock new, sometimes hazardous jurisdictions, Mobius relished the challenge.“Volatility is not an enemy to fear but a sign that opportunity is close at hand,” he wrote in “Passport to Profits,” one of his many books.He was the institutional seal of approval that the island nation desperately sought in the fragile months following the end of its nearly three-decade-long civil war in 2009.Mobius, through the Templeton Emerging Markets Group, orchestrated what remains one of the most significant votes of confidence in Sri Lanka’s financial history.Mobius trusted Sri Lanka’s sovereign debt when the rest of the world remained largely sceptical.Post-War BondsHaving invested in emerging markets for decades, Mobius was touting new opportunities as recently as January.On Venezuela, he wrote, “with (President Nicolas) Maduro’s exit, we may see a new political and economic order and the country could be reopening to investors.”His convictions shaped a generation of fund managers and helped draw billions of dollars into markets once dismissed as peripheral.In 2012’s “The Little Book of Emerging Markets,” he wrote that behind every balance sheet and stock ticker lies a community struggling to grow: “If you want to understand a market, start with its people.”In late 2009, as the smoke cleared from the battlefields of the North and East, Sri Lanka faced a daunting economic frontier.The country had narrowly avoided a balance-of-payments crisis by securing a $2.6 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).While the IMF deal provided the floor, Mark Mobius provided the ceiling at a time the country was facing allegations of human rights violations from the West led by the United States.Under Mobius’s leadership, Templeton began aggressively purchasing Sri Lankan Treasury bonds.At its peak, the fund held approximately $800 million in government securities.For a frontier economy like Sri Lanka in 2009, this was not just an investment; it was a lifeline when no foreign investor was ready to invest in the island natio...
Mark Mobius, Prominent Investor in Sri Lanka's Post - Facebook
Mark Mobius, Prominent Investor in Sri Lanka's Post-War Bonds, Passes Away at 89: FINANCIAL CHRONICLE – Mark Mobius, a prominent figure in emerging...
Mark Mobius, Notable Investor in Sri Lanka's Post - Facebook
Mark Mobius, Notable Investor in Sri Lanka's Post-War Bonds, Passes Away at 89: Mark Mobius, a renowned figure in the realm of emerging markets and a...
