Bouygues (XPAR:EN) is a French conglomerate that is active in the construc-tion, real estate, telecommunication and media businesses. The founding Bouygues family retains effective control over the enterprise, and the family’s interests appear to be well-aligned with those of other shareholders. Bouygues’ businesses have generally produced substantial amounts of cash, and the company has a history of returning capital to shareholders in the form of dividends.
In our view, even an investor who believes strongly in American exceptionalism should consider investing glob-ally. The United States may have lower barriers to business success than many other countries, but it does not have a monopoly on quality companies. In many industries—autos, consumer electronics, robotics, luxury goods— American companies face stiff competition from well-managed, well-organized and profitable businesses based abroad. And by some measures, foreign companies are actually more investor-friendly than US businesses. Returning capital to shareholders is a stronger tradition in many non-US markets. Apart from Japan, offshore firms generally distribute more of their profits to share-holders in the form of dividends than do their US counterparts (Exhibit 3,next page).
The security mentioned above is not to be interpreted as a recom-mendation to buy or sell.
From March CommentaryGlobal Investing: The Benefits of a Broader View.
