SCHARF INVESTMENTS, LLC

Scharf Investments, LLC is an investment management firm based out of Scotts Valley, California. The company was established in 1983 and has grown from its inception to now have 19 employees of which 8 are investment professionals. The firm is employee owned with Brian A. Krawez holding the controlling majority in the company and the remaining ownership split amongst Jeffery R. Scharf and other key executives. Scharf Investments conducts its research internally, utilizing a fundamental methodology to make its investment decisions. The company invests in the value stocks of companies across all market caps in the public equity and fixed income markets within the U.S. The company benchmarks its equity portfolios against the S&P 500 Index and its balanced portfolios against the Lipper Balanced Fund Average Index. Scharf Investments invests most heavily in the information technology sector, which alone makes up over a third of its total asset allocations, and also invests in the consumer discretionary, health care, finance, energy, consumer staples, and utilities and telecommunications sectors, among other sectors to a lesser degree, in order of decreasing allocation. The company’s top 10 holdings make up approximately half of its total holdings and the company has a relatively low turnover rate of 7.8%. Scharf Investments holds over $4 billion in total assets under management spread across over 2,300 accounts, all of which are discretionary accounts except for 2 that make up $120 million of its managed assets. Both the company’s total number of accounts and total managed assets have been increasing in recent years with its total assets under management growing significantly from under half a billion to over 8 times that amount today. Scharf Investments mainly caters to high net worth individuals, which alone makes up over three quarters of its clientele. The company currently offers its Scharf, Scharf Balanced Opportunity, and Scharf Global Opportunity mutual funds.