Your ESG mandate is my alpha – Piet Viljoen on his bullish energy thesis 

Counterpoint value fund manager Piet Viljoen shared his thesis on energy stocks, from which he’s been profiting handsomely in recent months. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations have become increasingly prominent, especially environmental concerns, as investors look ahead to the green economy. However, according to Viljoen, these concerns have been overdone, which has led to underinvestment in the energy and commodity sectors. While demand has remained robust – most notably in the energy sector – supply has been constrained owing to underinvestment over the last few years. This has led to surging prices, with Brent crude nearly reaching $90 a barrel earlier this week; many Wall Street investment banks are looking for a triple-digit number of Brent crude this year. In local business news, food retailers Woolworths and Shoprite are looked at from an investment proposition perspective.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices