Polen U.S. Small Company Growth
Investing in tomorrow’s leaders, today.
Polen Capital
Manager
March 2017
Inception of Strategy
USD
Base Currency
Investment Philosophy
At Polen Capital, long-term thinking is at the heart of everything we do. We implement a disciplined, bottom-up investment approach that focuses on building concentrated portfolios of exceptional businesses with enduring competitive advantages. Our philosophy is grounded in the belief that high-quality companies, those with strong balance sheets, resilient earnings profiles, and forward-looking leadership, are best positioned to deliver sustainable, above-average earnings growth over time. This repeatable, high-conviction process is designed not only to compound wealth but to preserve capital and navigate market volatility with confidence and clarity.
Our research framework is built on a fundamental truth: consistent earnings growth is the primary engine of long-term value creation. We seek to identify companies with a durable and defensible earnings stream, underpinned by sound financials, strong ESG alignment, and visionary management teams. Through rigorous, in-depth analysis and a true ownership mindset, we aim to invest in businesses that we believe can thrive across market cycles. By concentrating on quality and maintaining a long investment horizon, we align our process with our clients’ goals, delivering resilience, transparency, and the opportunity for meaningful long-term results.
Rayna Lesser Hannaway, CFA
Portfolio Manager & Analyst
Ben Pakenham discusses European High Yield opportunities
Ben Pakenham, Lead Portfolio Manager at Polen Capital, shares why he joined the firm: to focus on leveraged credit and help expand its European and global credit franchise alongside its established U.S. business. He highlights the appeal of European high yield bonds, with current yields roughly 100 basis points above their 10-year average, offering an attractive entry point for long-term investors. Pakenham also outlines the team’s investment philosophy, generating yield advantage through rigorous credit research, disciplined selection, and minimizing defaults to deliver sustainable excess returns.
Behind the strategy, meet the mind: Ben Pakenham
Meet Ben Pakenham, the newest member of Polen Capital, where he is focused on building a European credit franchise to complement the firm’s established US business. With over 20 years of experience in high yield investing, Ben shares how early exposure to finance through his family sparked his passion for markets. He recalls career milestones, including navigating the 2008 financial crisis, and explains his investment approach of identifying mispriced securities, achieving a yield advantage, and converting that into long-term outperformance.
Why should a client choose Polen Capital?
Founded in 1979, Polen Capital is a global investment manager that provides actively managed growth equity and high-yield credit strategies. Polen delivers distinctive growth and income solutions, building high-conviction, concentrated, competitively advantaged portfolios with the potential to compound and outperform over the long-term. The firm has a distinctive culture and is committed to attracting, developing, and retaining exceptional professionals who are aligned with the firm’s mission of preserving and growing clients’ assets to protect their present and enable their future.
Why active management?
Stephen Atkins CFA, Portfolio Manager, Strategist & Analyst at Polen Capital, explains why his firm believes in active management based on historical evidence over the past 20-30 years.
Polen Capital’s Investment Philosophy for China Equities
Jean Maunoury, Deputy CEO and CIO of Research and Investment at iM Global Partner, speaks with June Lui, Portfolio Manager & Analyst for Emerging Markets Growth at Polen Capital, about investment strategies in Chinese equities. June explains Polen Capital’s long-term, fundamentals-driven approach to investing in China, focusing on structural growth opportunities and high-quality companies rather than short-term market trends. She highlights the importance of being selective, emphasizing management quality, business models, and valuations. The discussion also covers the limitations of traditional Chinese equity benchmarks, often dominated by state-owned enterprises, and why Polen Capital avoids them in favor of independent research.
How Polen Capital’s Emerging Market teams collaborate effectively
In this conversation, Jean Maunoury, Deputy CEO and CIO of Research and Investment at iM Global Partner, speaks with June Lui, Portfolio Manager & Analyst for Emerging Markets Growth at Polen Capital, to explore how Polen Capital’s Emerging Market teams collaborate effectively.
Polen Global Growth Fund Overview
In this video, Damon Ficklin, Head of Team and Portfolio Manager at Polen Capital and Lead Portfolio Manager for the Global Growth Strategy, outlines the firm’s disciplined investment philosophy centered on three key advantages: portfolio concentration, long-term holding periods, and rigorous risk management. He explains how Polen Capital focuses on selecting 20 to 30 of the world’s highest-quality growth companies, leveraging a long-term investment horizon to let fundamentals drive returns rather than market timing. The investment process uses five guardrails, high return on equity, strong earnings and free cash flow growth, solid balance sheets, improving margins, and organic revenue growth, to filter a broad universe down to about 100–150 best-in-class businesses, while excluding cyclical and competitively weak firms. ESG factors are fully integrated into their analysis, ensuring companies manage risks and capture opportunities. This methodical approach has delivered consistent performance over decades and remains central to Polen Capital’s mission of protecting and growing client capital.
The Team
The Polen U.S. Small Company Growth strategy seeks to achieve long-term growth by building a concentrated portfolio of competitively advantaged businesses with potential for sustainable, above-average earnings growth.
