As Dubai cements its role as a global capital for trade, innovation, and investment, Jefferies once again brought together leading corporates and investors from across Asia, the Middle East, and South America for its second annual GEMS (Global Emerging Markets) Conference, held November 24–25, 2025.
Following a successful debut in 2024, the conference has quickly become one of the region’s most anticipated investor gatherings, featuring one-on-one meetings and focused conversations with C-suite leaders from across emerging markets.
One of the defining themes of the conference was the strength of emerging-market (EM) equities, which have seen an extended rally on the back of strong macro trends and capital inflows. Janet Harbison, Head of International Equities into Europe at Jefferies, and Alex Coffey, Head of EMEA Research, shared their perspective on the EMs’ heterogenous growth stories, short- and long-term mispricing in EM equities, how Jefferies has invested in the region, and more.
A New Phase of EM Growth and Outperformance
Many investors are treating 2025 as a turning point for emerging markets: the first time in a decade that EM equities have outperformed their developed-market peers. As Ms. Harbison explained, “2025 has surprised a lot of investors… Emerging markets are up over 30% as a group this year.”
The factors behind this shift run deeper than traditional EM tailwinds like demographics and industrialization. Those forces remain powerful, but today the drivers of EM growth are more varied. “Emerging markets aren’t just a play on the U.S. dollar or commodities the way they’ve been historically,” Ms. Harbison said. “There are real tech growth powerhouses in Asia and across the rest of emerging markets.”
Social reforms and deeper capital markets are enabling meaningful innovation, with new industries taking hold. As Mr. Coffey put it, “There’s a tremendous amount of innovation happening in emerging markets, at the forefront of industries like payments, biotech, artificial intelligence, electrification, and alternative energy.”
Despite this evolution and outperformance, EM valuations remain deeply discounted. “The markets are cheap, and they’re also really underpenetrated from an index perspective,” Ms. Harbison added. With EM accounting for roughly 40% of global GDP and about 70% of global GDP growth — but only ~12% of the MSCI ACWI index — the case for a long-term re-rating continues to strengthen.
Distinct Growth Stories Across the EM Universe
One of the clearest themes at GEMS was that emerging markets cannot be treated as a single asset class. “Emerging markets aren’t homogeneous,” Ms. Harbison emphasized. “They are a very differentiated set of growth stories.”
India remains one of the strongest structural opportunities, despite its 2025 underperformance. Long-term investment in infrastructure has materially improved quality of life and economic capacity. “Over the last decade, more than 120 million families have been connected to running water in India,” Ms. Harbison noted. With a population of 1.4 billion and a young demographic profile, “almost everything in India is underpenetrated… from airports to travel to coffee to banking.”
China has become a two-track market. Domestic macro indicators remain soft, yet progress in frontier technologies is accelerating at a pace that continues to draw global attention. “Technology is showing explosive growth, and China is actually leading the U.S. in many sectors,” Ms. Harbison said. Advances in autos, batteries, and robotics continue to impress global investors.
The Middle East is building a foundation for long-term expansion. A new generation of leadership, rapid economic diversification, strong population inflows, and one of the world’s most ambitious technology and infrastructure agendas have made the region a meaningful engine of EM growth. “There is a new generation of leaders… very tech-focused in terms of where they want to take this economy.”
Across these regions, hundreds of millions of new consumers are entering the global economy — a secular force reshaping earnings potential, investment flows, and global supply chains.
How EM Central Banks Took the Lead
Another major theme was the strength of EM central banks over the past two years. During the inflation spike, policymakers across Latin America, Central Europe, and parts of Asia acted earlier than their developed-market counterparts.
As Mr. Coffey put it, “Emerging market central banks acted more decisively and more effectively to deal with recent inflation spikes than developed-market central banks.”
As global rate-cut cycles unfold, those policy advantages are expected to remain meaningful contributors to relative performance.
Jefferies’ Investment in Emerging Markets
Both speakers emphasized that Jefferies’ conviction in EM is matched by sustained, scaled investment across its global platform. Over the past decade, the firm has significantly expanded its EM footprint, doubling its Asia headcount and growing coverage from roughly 50 stocks in Hong Kong and China to more than 300. Jefferies has also built and expanded presences in the Middle East and Latin America, including the opening of its Dubai office in 2022, creating an integrated global EM franchise across equities, research, and distribution.
As Mr. Coffey noted, “Over the past five years, we’ve expanded our stock coverage to over 1,400 stocks in emerging markets, and we now cover more than 80% of the emerging market benchmark.” He added that the business itself has meaningfully internationalized: “Our equities business has more than doubled in size. We now make more money (in EM) than we used to make globally five years ago.”
As Ms. Harbison summarized, “There is a huge growth story at play. Earnings are turning around… and over the next five to ten years, emerging markets are going to be a much bigger part of global indices.”
