Unearthing exceptional, undiscovered small-cap companies abroad.
Fin Capital is a Chicago-based investment manager focused exclusively on smaller listed companies in developed markets outside the United States. Like a fin, we partner with the companies we own to help guide, balance, steer, and propel them.
A neglected corner of the market
Most of the world's listed companies sit outside the United States, yet the research, the capital, and the attention are concentrated in a small number of large, familiar names. Thousands of quality businesses abroad have little or no analyst coverage. Few professionals do this work, and that is precisely why we believe the opportunity exists.
Limited visibility
Smaller companies abroad often report in their local language, hold few investor meetings, and rarely appear on the radar of global institutions. Good businesses can stay overlooked for years.
A self-renewing niche
Low trading volumes keep large institutions away, and successful specialists tend to outgrow the space. The result is an area of the market where the inefficiency keeps renewing itself.
A global perspective
Looking across many countries lets us focus on the critical drivers of value rather than local noise, supported by a network of like-minded investors who share research and ideas.
Approximate figures. Sources: World Federation of Exchanges and World Bank (listed companies); FactSet and Agecroft Partners via HedgeThink (analyst coverage). Views expressed are those of Fin Capital and are subject to change.
Find, engage, and stay patient
We look for proven, profitable businesses that the market has not yet discovered, get to know them in person, and work with management to help investors understand them. Holding periods are measured in years, not quarters.
Safety
- Proven business models with durable competitive advantages
- Low debt; businesses that fund their own growth and have been tested through downturns
- Founders, families, and insiders with meaningful ownership
Growth
- Long-term structural tailwinds: companies solving lasting problems
- No industries in structural decline
- We want the wind at our back, not to rely on perfect execution
Value
- Under-appreciated for identifiable, fixable reasons, such as limited trading, a misunderstood business, or poor communication
- A specific path for that to change, and a role for us in helping it happen
How we find them
Screen
Over 20,000 listed companies in developed markets abroad, filtered with deliberately flexible criteria, since many of the best ideas screen poorly on imperfect data.
Deep dive
Study the remaining candidates for durable advantages, structural growth, and how they held up through past crises.
Network
Local fund managers, regional brokers, and company executives surface ideas that no screen can find.
On the ground
Roughly 100 meetings with management teams a year, in person and with the decision-makers themselves.
Patience on price
Some companies are followed for years, visiting headquarters and speaking with customers, before the price is right.
Reading an annual report tells you what a company earns. Standing in its factory, talking to its customers and employees, tells you whether it will keep earning it.
Constructive engagement
We never interfere in operations; management are the experts there. We help with what smaller companies abroad often lack: the tools to make themselves understood by global investors.
Content
Rebuilding investor presentations slide by slide, distilling complex businesses into clear stories, and creating English-language materials.
Delivery
Encouraging English-language earnings calls, suggesting the questions investors will ask, and helping plan investor days.
Governance and targets
Encouraging medium-term targets, clearer disclosure of how the business makes money, and greater transparency.
Beyond investor relations
Customer introductions, perspective on financing acquisitions, and workshops on investor relations for company executives.
Credentials and affiliations
- CFA charterholder
- BA in Economics, magna cum laude, Occidental College; former member of its Board of Governors
- Author of the International Small-Cap Investor newsletter on Substack
- Co-host of the Made in Japan podcast on Japanese capital markets
- Host of investor relations workshops for international company executives
Benjamin Finser, CFA
Founder, Fin Capital
Benjamin has focused exclusively on international small-cap companies since beginning his investing career in 2011. He spent more than a decade at Kabouter Management in Chicago, an international small-cap specialist, joining full-time in 2013 after a two-year internship and rising to Senior Analyst and Engagement Manager.
In that role he covered developed and emerging markets outside the United States across all sectors, generated new investment ideas, managed holdings across Asia and Europe, and led the firm's engagement and sustainable investing work with portfolio companies.
He founded Fin Capital in Chicago to concentrate on what he has always done: finding exceptional companies that the market has overlooked, getting to know them in person, and helping them become better understood by investors. Many of the executives he meets today he has known for over a decade.
The firm is named for the fin, which guides, balances, steers, and propels. That is what we aim to do for the companies we own.
Commentary and conversations
Benjamin writes and speaks publicly about investing in smaller companies outside the United States.
International Small-Cap Investor
A newsletter on Substack exploring how and why to invest in overlooked companies abroad, from market structure to how a 20,000-company universe is searched.
Read on Substack →Made in Japan podcast
Conversations with investors about the investing landscape in Japan, from corporate governance reform to the companies behind it.
Listen to the podcast →Newsletter and podcast content reflects personal views, is provided for general information only, and is not investment advice or an offer of any security. It does not discuss the performance of any fund.
Get in touch
For general inquiries, including from company management teams and fellow investors, please reach out by email.
- info@fincapitalmanagement.com
- Office
- Chicago, Illinois
- Existing investors
- Investor Login