Asset manager Ninety One has increased its holdings in Turkish defense electronics maker Aselsan Elektronik Sanayi Ve Ticaret AS, seeing the company as a way to diversify from the artificial-intelligence trade that’s dominating global markets.
The state-run producer of radar equipment, drone components and air-defense systems has become one of the largest positions in Ninety One’s emerging markets equity strategy, which has a total $12.5 billion under management, portfolio manager Varun Laijawalla said. Given Turkey accounts for less than 1% of MSCI’s emerging equity index, the fund’s enthusiasm for Aselsan is “quite unusual,” he said.
The stock rose about 220% last year and has gained another 60% so far in 2026, benefiting from the global rally in defense stocks, as conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East spur governments to beef up military spending. While more than a third of the Ninety One strategy is invested in information technology stocks, the fund is betting Aselsan will be a useful complement to that AI exposure.
“We’re usually quite cautious around state-owned enterprises, but I think this one is different,” Laijawalla said in an interview. “You want to buy idiosyncratic, high conviction companies that are also diversified, I think this is that.”
Unlike Asian tech and AI names, Aselsan also has the advantage of being “uncrowded, uncorrelated,” he added.
READ: Turkish Defense Firm That Surged 236% in a Year Eyes New Markets
Aselsan secured more than $2 billion in export contracts last year. While its products range from wearable cameras to self-defense anti-drone systems, it’s also involved in Turkey’s Steel Dome, an air-defense network that will resemble Israel’s Iron Dome.
Laijawalla said one positive for the company is that it previously had a build-up of cash receivables — the money it’s owed for its products — but these have now come down. Second, the business is selling more outside the country, particularly to Europe.
“You’re not just playing defence, you’re playing defence with an idiosyncratic story of improving fundamentals coming from the cashflow generation,” he added.