Sanlam's Kokkie Kooyman: my top GEM financials ideas

Shriram Transport Union finances truck operators, the lifeblood of India’s transport system and has built up an almost unassailable brand and presence via its system and the way it services its clients. The fact that the entire top management team started right at the bottom means that everybody in the business understands the business model.

Two that are totally different are Kruk SA (Poland) and DBA Telecommunications (Asia) Holdings.

Kruk is young and has an as yet untested business model but makes its money by providing debt collection services for third party companies and acquires non-performing debt packages from banks and pursues their collection for its own account.

DBA on the other hand is now well established but only at the beginning of its growth path. It is only indirectly involved in the financial services industry as it provides intelligent payment services in China and operates smart terminals nationwide and designs and manufactures smart card vending machines.

After many years of investing, it turned cash flow positive this year with a commensurate jump in its share price, but remains very undervalued.

Kooyman's Sanlam Global Financials fund has returned 45.9% over the last three years versus a 15% rise in the benchmark