Today, the phrase “emerging market” is almost synonymous with the acronym BRIC. Conceived by Goldman Sachs’s Jim O’Neill in his 2001 paper, titled Building Better Global Economic BRICs, the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China have grown substantially during the past decade from the standpoints of GDP and investment. While their performance has validated O’Neill’s thesis, it is not necessarily given that these four countries offer the best emerging market risk-adjusted returns in today’s environment.

There is no question that it is still possible to invest successfully in the BRIC countries. Some would argue, however, that cracks are beginning to emerge in the BRIC façade, as these countries have been focal points for investment for almost a decade. In some cases, competition is intense across the risk spectrum, driving up valuations to the point where futu