BMC Global Select May 2026

Korean businesses have created some of the world's leading tech companies, and through the fund, you own SK Hynix, the world's leading memory manufacturer, whose products are extremely sought-after by data centers. The fund has seen a return of more than 100% in this stock in just a few months. The reason for this is not only the robust demand but also that the company has learned from previous cycles and now signs long-term contracts with customers, reducing the uncertainty in an otherwise cyclical business. Less uncertainty leads to higher valuation—it's as simple as that. SK Hynix has also indicated a listing in the US, where Micron, its highly valued competitor, is already present. Overall, these catalysts offer great opportunities for further share price increases.  

During May, SK Hynix was the fund's largest contributor, followed by AMD and Japan's Kyocera. Kyocera is a Special Situations holding with an especially broad product portfolio—from ceramics and semiconductors to chemicals and kitchenware. As this fragmented company is restructured, it will release significant shareholder value, bolstered by an active share buyback program. Among the negative performers during the month were HCA Healthcare, Millrose Properties, and Vulcan Materials. HCA traded cautiously ahead of its report, while the construction-related Millrose and Vulcan are both affected by lower interest rates—a development currently working against them.

Key market events and trends

A 5% rise in the MSCI World (EUR) during May disproved the old saying "sell in May and go away." The return profile for 2026 tells a story of a constantly evolving market after the year started with a marked increase in gold and silver, along with a clear rotation out of the software sector, followed by a rise in oil and gas when the Iran conflict dominated the headlines in March. As the tension eased, AI infrastructure, memory chips, and semiconductors in particular took the lead from April. AI is, without a doubt, the strongest driver of the market right now. Data centers are being built at an incredible pace, especially in the US, but the trend is spreading to Europe, China, India, and other large economies. We see more and more AI-powered products and services in everyday life, leaving us in no doubt that this technology is here to stay.

Fundamentals continue to strengthen globally. At the start of 2026, the market had expected profit growth for MSCI World of around 14% for the full year. This has since been revised up to 20%, with expect growth of 14% for 2027. Even though the market is currently trading at an all-time high, valuations for 2027 profits remain moderate at a P/E of 16.5x.

Finally, Europe is changing at a rapid pace that may not yet be fully reflected in the region's market valuations. SoftBank's announced investment of EUR 75bn in a data center in France is a recent example. More broadly speaking, the emerging alliance between the "Democratic Seven"—the EU, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and the UK—represents a structural shift that the stock market has not yet fully priced in.

Portfolio changes

During May, we sold Ferrari, Millrose Properties, and Prudential. Ferrari's profit growth has slowed, and when we saw the design of its new electric vehicle, we made the decision to sell the remaining small position we had. We exited Prudential and Millrose Properties to free up capacity for more appealing investment ideas. 

Our new holdings are the US's Wesco, which distributes electrical products and sees solid profit growth thanks to the sizable infrastructure investments in the US. We have also taken an initial position in Taiwan's Taiwan Union, a niche company that delivers advanced products to the semiconductor industry and with which we had a particularly rewarding meeting during our latest Asia trip. On the same trip, we identified Samsung as a long-term winner, and so we have also taken an initial position in this stock. For those who'd like to know more about this trip, you can watch this video.

The fund's positioning

The fund's strategy is to invest in a diversified collection of the world's finest companies, complemented by a selection of Special Situations stocks. The portfolio is positioned well and our companies' reports have met our expectations. We have a positive outlook for the remainder of the year. Should the conflict in the Middle East be resolved and the oil price drop back to more normalized levels, we would expect to see a further boost to the global economy and stock markets.

*MSCI All Country World NTR $ in EUR