International and Global Equity Strategies
Investing beyond domestic markets expands the opportunity set by providing access to a wider range of companies, industries, and sources of growth. For investors seeking broader diversification, it offers exposure to businesses and economic trends that extend beyond Canada.
At Pembroke, our global equity strategies invest across all major developed markets, including the United States, while our international equity strategies focus on developed markets outside North America.
Both approaches are grounded in the same philosophy. We seek to identify high-quality businesses through disciplined research and a long-term perspective, with an emphasis on sustainable competitive advantages and the ability to grow earnings and cash flow over time.
Together, these strategies help investors build more globally diversified portfolios while participating in the long-term growth of the world economy.
Within our international and global equity approach, you can choose from three strategies that vary by geographic scope and market capitalization.
Strategies
The Pembroke International Growth Strategy is an international equity mandate focused on long-term capital appreciation. It invests across all market capitalization ranges in developed markets outside North America.
Strategy Overview
The Pembroke International Growth Strategy invests in high-quality, growth-oriented companies located primarily in developed markets outside of Canada and the United States. This includes broad exposure to Europe, the United Kingdom, Japan and other developed countries. These regions are home to many global industry leaders and long-term compounders.
The strategy’s objective is to build a relatively focused portfolio of international businesses that combine compelling growth potential with financial discipline, durable competitive advantages, and management teams aligned with shareholders.
While equity selection is at the heart of the strategy, Pembroke also maintains the flexibility to hold cash and cash equivalents when conditions warrant. These positions help manage liquidity, reduce volatility during periods of market stress, and provide flexibility to take advantage of compelling investment opportunities as they arise.
The strategy’s active, benchmark-agnostic approach allows Pembroke to avoid the structural biases of large-cap-dominated indices and instead emphasize companies where bottom-up research reveals long-term potential overlooked by the broader market.
The result is a differentiated portfolio that reflects Pembroke’s conviction in businesses that can grow their intrinsic value on a per-share basis, supported by strong balance sheets, recurring revenue models, and capable, aligned leadership.
The strategy provides investors with exposure to growth markets and industries that complement Canadian and U.S. holdings, expanding sector and currency diversification and enabling access to global innovation and entrepreneurship.
The strategy is managed by Pembroke and reflects the firm’s long-standing, bottom-up investment philosophy, emphasizing disciplined research and long-term ownership.
Who Should Invest?
The International Growth Strategy is suited to long-term investors seeking to enhance the geographic breadth and growth orientation of their equity portfolios. It is designed for individuals and institutions who recognize the benefits of global diversification and are comfortable venturing beyond North America in pursuit of long-term growth opportunities.
The strategy may be appropriate as a core global equity holding within a diversified portfolio, particularly for investors looking to complement North American exposure with high-quality international companies.
For Canadian investors, allocating a portion of a portfolio to international equities can meaningfully enhance long-term outcomes. Canada represents less than 3% of global equity markets and is heavily concentrated in a few sectors, most notably financials, energy, and materials. By investing internationally, Canadians gain access to a far broader and more diverse opportunity set, including world-leading companies in technology, healthcare, industrial innovation, consumer brands, and other sectors that are underrepresented at home.
Investors in this strategy typically have:
- A long-term time horizon (ideally 5+ years), understanding that international equity markets can experience higher volatility and shorter-term political or currency fluctuations
- At least a moderate risk tolerance, recognizing that the strategy will differ meaningfully from common international benchmarks and may have periods of performance dispersion as a result
- An objective of capital growth, rather than income, as dividend yield is not a core selection criterion
- A desire for international diversification, especially in sectors or regions underrepresented in Canada and the U.S.
The strategy may serve as a standalone global equity solution or as a satellite growth allocation that enhances the diversification and return potential of a broader equity portfolio. It may also serve Canadian investors seeking to reduce home-country bias and gain exposure to high-quality international companies that complement their domestic and U.S. holdings. Pembroke classifies the International Growth Strategy as a medium-risk equity strategy.
In short, international equities help Canadian investors build more resilient, globally balanced portfolios with exposure to the full scope of global innovation and economic activity.
Who Should Not Invest?
The International Growth Strategy is not suitable for investors seeking capital preservation, stable income, or short-term liquidity. As an actively managed international equity strategy, it involves exposure to equity market volatility, foreign currency fluctuations, and geopolitical risk, and may experience periods of benchmark-relative performance dispersion. Investors with a short investment horizon, a very low risk tolerance, or a preference for index-tracking strategies may find the strategy misaligned with their objectives.
Investment Strategy
Pembroke applies its long-standing investment principles: bottom-up research, long-term ownership, focus on per-share value creation, and shareholder alignment, to an international context. The International Growth Strategy seeks to identify companies with sustainable business models, high returns on invested capital, disciplined capital allocation, and competitive positioning that are positioned to grow through a range of macroeconomic environments.
Bottom-Up Fundamental Research
Stock selection drives portfolio construction. Pembroke’s investment team performs deep, fundamental research on individual companies, engaging directly with management and industry participants, analyzing financial statements, and assessing competitive dynamics. Our analysts evaluate:
- Revenue visibility and scalability, favoring companies with recurring revenues, long-term contracts, or structural growth tailwinds
- Return on invested capital and capital efficiency, ensuring that growth is supported by reinvestment of internally generated funds, rather than debt-fueled expansion
- Balance sheet strength, as financial resilience enables companies to invest through economic cycles and protect shareholder value during downturns
- Management quality and alignment, with a preference for owner-operators or companies where executives maintain meaningful equity stakes and act as long-term stewards
- Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations are incorporated as part of the overall risk assessment, particularly around governance structures, supply chain risks, or exposure to regulatory change
We focus on per-share growth in earnings, cash flow, and intrinsic value, which aligns investor outcomes with the economic engine of the business. Growth fueled by consistent reinvestment, rather than temporary financial engineering, forms the foundation of long-term wealth creation.
Portfolio Construction
The International Growth Strategy is relatively focused portfolio across a range of sectors and geographies. Position sizing reflects Pembroke’s conviction in each company’s investment thesis, balanced by liquidity considerations and country-specific risks. Unlike passive international equity strategies, Pembroke does not replicate index country weights. For example, the portfolio may be significantly underweight regions if compelling opportunities are limited, and overweight higher-growth regions or sectors where bottom-up fundamentals support the case.
Geographic and sector diversification are outcomes of the investment process rather than mandates. That said, we ensure that the portfolio is not overly exposed to any single macroeconomic driver. Currency exposure is accepted as part of the strategy, though the team monitors currency risk closely, particularly where it intersects with corporate profitability and valuation.
Risk management stems from intensive company-level research, position sizing discipline, and continuous monitoring of financial and qualitative changes within each holding. Pembroke does not rely on hedging or market timing to manage risk but instead emphasizes selecting resilient companies that can thrive across multiple market cycles.
Accessing the Strategy
Investors may access this strategy by investing in the Pembroke International Growth Fund. The strategy may also be implemented through a separately managed account for clients with a discretionary management agreement. Additional information about the fund, including investment objectives, risks, fees, and expenses, is available in the fund’s prospectus.
The Pembroke Global Growth Strategy is a global equity mandate focused on long-term capital appreciation. It invests across all market capitalization ranges in developed markets worldwide, including the United States.
Strategy Overview
The Pembroke Global Growth Strategy invests in high-quality global growth companies that demonstrate durable competitive advantages, strong cash flow generation, and the ability to compound value over extended periods.
The strategy is intended to complement Pembroke’s existing Canadian, U.S., and international equity offerings by providing clients with access to the world’s highest-quality growth businesses, many of which are not accessible through smaller-capitalization strategies. It reflects Pembroke’s evolution toward offering a more complete global equity solution while remaining firmly anchored in the firm’s long-standing bottom-up investment approach.
The Global Growth Strategy is implemented as a relatively focused portfolio of predominantly large-capitalization companies operating across a broad range of industries and geographies. While the portfolio emphasizes established global leaders, it retains the flexibility to invest in select mid-capitalization companies where long-term growth characteristics remain compelling. Portfolio composition is driven entirely by bottom-up security selection rather than index replication, sector targets, or regional allocations.
Although the strategy is benchmark-agnostic in its security selection, it is constructed with an awareness of global diversification considerations. Geographic exposure is broadly aligned with developed market opportunity sets and may evolve over time as relative valuations and bottom-up opportunities change.
Who Should Invest?
The Pembroke Global Growth Strategy is suited to investors seeking long-term capital appreciation through exposure to high-quality global equities. The strategy is designed for investors with a long-term investment horizon, ideally five years or longer, who are comfortable with equity market volatility and periods of benchmark-relative performance dispersion. Pembroke classifies the Global Growth Strategy as a medium risk equity investment.
The strategy may be appropriate for investors who:
- Seek long-term capital appreciation through exposure to high-quality global growth companies
- Value a disciplined, actively managed approach focused on business quality and long-term compounding
- Are focused on capital appreciation rather than current income
- Prefer a single global equity strategy rather than managing multiple regional allocations
Role Within a Portfolio
Within a diversified portfolio, the Pembroke Global Growth Strategy is designed to function as a core global equity allocation. It may serve as:
- A foundational holding providing exposure to high-quality growth companies across developed markets
- A complement to regionally focused Canadian, U.S., or international equity strategies
- A means of reducing home-country concentration while maintaining a consistent global growth orientation
For investors already invested in Pembroke’s regional growth strategies, the Global Growth Strategy offers a cohesive framework for owning the firm’s highest-quality ideas across global markets within a single portfolio.
Who Should Not Invest?
The Pembroke Global Growth Strategy is not suitable for investors with short-term liquidity needs, those seeking capital preservation or stable income, or those unwilling to tolerate equity market volatility. Investors who require predictable short-term outcomes or who prefer index-tracking strategies may find the strategy misaligned with their objectives.
Investment Strategy
The Pembroke Global Growth Strategy is managed using a disciplined, bottom-up, research-intensive investment process. Security selection, long-term ownership, and valuation discipline are the primary drivers of portfolio construction.
The strategy focuses on companies that exhibit:
- Strong and sustainable growth in earnings and cash flow on a per-share basis
- High and durable returns on invested capital
- Competitive advantages that support long-term value creation
- The ability to grow without reliance on external capital markets
- Management teams that demonstrate prudent capital allocation and alignment with shareholders
Rather than relying on informational advantages, the strategy emphasizes time arbitrage, the ability to hold high-quality businesses through short-term market fluctuations and benefit from long-term compounding as fundamentals evolve.
Bottom-Up Fundamental Research
Pembroke’s investment team conducts deep fundamental research across global developed markets. Research combines financial analysis, industry assessment, and ongoing evaluation of business quality, competitive positioning, and management stewardship.
Given the scale and maturity of many portfolio companies, direct access to management is not always a source of differentiation. Instead, the research process emphasizes understanding long-term business economics, capital allocation discipline, and resilience across economic cycles.
Valuation Discipline
While the strategy is growth-oriented, valuation remains a critical component of the investment decision. Pembroke focuses on long-term intrinsic value, emphasizing normalized earnings and cash flow potential rather than short-term market sentiment. Investments are made where the team believes a company’s quality and growth prospects are not fully reflected in its current valuation, providing an attractive long-term risk-reward profile.
Role of Macroeconomic Considerations
Pembroke is a bottom-up investor. Macroeconomic factors such as interest rates, inflation, or economic cycles do not drive security selection or portfolio positioning. These factors are monitored as part of overall risk awareness, particularly where they may influence business fundamentals or valuation assumptions, but they do not dictate investment decisions.
Portfolio Construction and Risk Management
The portfolio is constructed on a relatively focused basis, with position sizes reflecting conviction, liquidity considerations, and company-specific risk. While diversification across industries and geographies is considered, portfolio structure is an outcome of bottom-up opportunity rather than predefined targets.
Risk management is embedded throughout the investment process and includes:
- Emphasis on business quality and balance sheet strength
- Position sizing discipline
- Continuous monitoring of fundamentals and valuation
Given its focus on high-quality global equities, the strategy is expected to exhibit lower volatility than small-capitalization strategies, while still experiencing meaningful equity market fluctuations.
Accessing the Strategy
Investors may access this strategy by investing in the Pembroke Global Growth Pooled Fund, which is offered on a private placement basis to eligible accredited investors, subject to the terms outlined in the fund’s term sheet. The strategy may also be implemented through a separately managed account for clients with a discretionary management agreement.
The Pembroke Global Equity Strategy is an actively managed, globally diversified equity strategy designed to provide long-term capital appreciation through exposure to public equity markets around the world.
Strategy Overview
The Pembroke Global Equity Strategy mirrors the equity component of the Pembroke Global Balanced Strategy and was developed to accommodate investors who wish to tailor their fixed-income exposure separately, by adjusting their overall asset mix to reflect individual risk preferences, income needs, or broader portfolio considerations.
The Global Equity Strategy is implemented using a fund-of-funds approach, investing primarily in a combination of internally managed Pembroke equity strategies and select third-party funds or exchange-traded funds where appropriate. This structure provides efficient access to global markets, diversified regional and capitalization exposure, and specialist investment expertise, while allowing Pembroke to oversee underlying exposures and portfolio-level risk management.
Global diversification is a central feature of the strategy. Equity exposure spans major developed markets, including the United States, Canada, Europe, and other international markets, with regional exposures evolving over time as long-term opportunity sets and diversification considerations change. Portfolio composition is driven by bottom-up opportunity and strategic diversification objectives rather than index replication or static regional targets.
Overall, the Pembroke Global Equity Strategy is designed to serve as a flexible, globally diversified equity solution for investors who value professional oversight, disciplined portfolio construction, and the ability to integrate global equities seamlessly into a broader, customized investment plan.
Who Should Invest?
The Pembroke Global Equity Strategy is suited to investors seeking long-term capital appreciation through exposure to global equity markets. Pembroke classifies the Global Equity Strategy as a medium risk equity strategy. The strategy is designed for investors with a long-term investment horizon, ideally five years or longer, who are comfortable with equity market volatility and periodic drawdowns.
The strategy may be appropriate for investors who:
- Seek a globally diversified equity allocation within a single strategy
- Value professional portfolio management and global diversification
Investors should be comfortable with fluctuations in portfolio value driven by global equity markets and foreign currency exposure. While diversification is expected to mitigate reliance on any single market, returns will vary over time, and periods of heightened volatility are inherent in global equity investing.
Role Within a Portfolio
Within a diversified investment plan, the Pembroke Global Equity Strategy is intended to function as a core global equity allocation. It may serve as:
- A foundational global equity holding within a customized asset allocation framework
- A complement to externally managed fixed-income portfolios
- A means of reducing home-country concentration while maintaining consistent global equity exposure
For investors who value flexibility, the strategy provides a clean separation between equity and fixed-income decisions, allowing asset allocation to be tailored at the household or total-portfolio level rather than within a single balanced strategy such as the Global Balanced Strategy.
Who Should Not Invest?
The strategy is not suitable for investors seeking capital preservation, stable income, or short-term liquidity, nor for those with a very low tolerance for equity market risk.
Investment Strategy
The Pembroke Global Equity Strategy is managed using a disciplined investment process that integrates global asset allocation, selection of underlying equity strategies, and ongoing portfolio-level risk management. Portfolio positioning reflects long-term opportunity sets and diversification objectives rather than short-term tactical views on markets or regions.
Equity Implementation
Equity exposure is achieved through a diversified mix of underlying funds that provide access to global markets across regions, market capitalizations, and investment styles.
These include Pembroke-managed equity strategies in areas of demonstrated expertise, as well as select external funds or exchange-traded funds used to efficiently access broader or more efficient segments of global equity markets. This approach allows the strategy to combine focused active management where Pembroke believes it can add value with diversified exposure to larger or more efficient markets through complementary vehicles. Allocations are reviewed continuously to ensure alignment with portfolio objectives, diversification goals, and evolving market conditions.
Asset Allocation and Rebalancing
While the strategy does not maintain a fixed regional or style allocation, portfolio positioning reflects long-term opportunity sets and diversification objectives and is not driven by short-term tactical views. Rebalancing is conducted as needed to manage drift, maintain diversification, and systematically allocate capital across global equity markets through market cycles.
Risk Management
Risk management is embedded throughout the investment process. Key elements include:
- Diversification across regions, managers, and investment styles
- Ongoing monitoring of underlying exposures and correlations
- Portfolio-level oversight to manage concentration and unintended risk
The strategy does not employ leverage or speculative techniques and is managed with a long-term perspective focused on consistency, diversification, and capital stewardship.
Accessing the Strategy
Investors may access this strategy by investing in the Pembroke Global Equity Pooled Fund, which is offered on a private placement basis to eligible accredited investors, subject to the terms outlined in the fund’s term sheet. The strategy may also be implemented through a separately managed account for clients with a discretionary management agreement.
