Guy Spier put together a list of fund managers he’d invest with (if he wasn’t doing the job himself). This is a great starting point for anybody looking to boost his returns or to learn from other investors. I am humbled that Guy mentioned me alongside some of the best talent the industry got to offer.
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Q1 hedge fund letters, conference, scoops etc, Also read Lear Capital: Financial Products You Should Avoid?
For those readers who don’t know Guy: he is a Zurich-based value investor and well known for bidding US$650,100 with Mohnish Pabrai for a charity lunch with Warren Buffett in 2008. Guy’s 20 year track record beats the vast majority of all other fund managers and he’s been an inspiration for many emerging fund managers such as myself. If I wasn’t doing the job myself, I’d invest with him.
WITH WHOM I WOULD INVEST? PART II
INTRODUCTION: WITH WHOM WOULD I INVEST? – PART I
Some time ago, I wrote up the criteria that I would use in deciding with whom I would invest my and my
family’s money if I was not doing the job myself: http://link.aqfd.ch/2033aVP
I argue that there are five attributes that the heal money manager should possess:
- Investing their own money
- Primary or sole focus
- Do it as an activity, not a business
- Good at it
- Fiduciary gene
I also promised a list of those people who would be on the list of candidates. You will find it towards the end
of this document. If you want to, you can skip straight to it, but I wanted you to read some provisos and
health warnings beforehand – without which it would not be complete.
1. PUBLIC COMPANIES
Before we get to the private managers, there are some publicly traded companies that are run more like
partnerships, with great capital allocators at the helm and where a significant portion of the net worth ofthe
owners-managers is invested in the company. They have the great advantage that one can buy or sell their
shares on a daily basis on an exchange and there are few wealth, or other restrictions to buying.
Were I not managing my own money, I would certainly leave a significant chunk with them.
a. Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire hardly needs an introduction – but a write-up of who I would invest with would be incomplete if it did not start with Berkshire.
When one invests in Berkshire in, addition to getting Warren Buffett for a mere $100,000 a year, one is getting the investment and capital allocation talent of Charlie Munger, Ajit Jain, Greg Abel, Todd Combs and Ted Wechsler.
Moreover, by investing a portion of one’s wealth in Berkshire, one is partnering up with an extraordinary group of co-owners: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wertheimers who sold Iscar to Berkshire, the Uetschis – who sold Flightsafety, the Tisch Family and the Buffett and Munger clans (not to mention the Spier family and Aquamarine Fund).
In other words, Berkshire is the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end. Pretty much everything that relates to intelligent investing starts with Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett.
Many, if not all of the the important lessons are embodied in Berkshire for us all to learn. At least in my book.
b. Markel Insurance
Markel is probably the most successful cloner of Berkshire. Investors in Markel are partners with the Markel family and with Tom Gayner.
Every year Markel holds a few events at Berkshire – most famously the Markel brunch. Most recently Markel announced that it had hired Saurabh Madaan from Google into its investment team. In addition to being a data scientist, Saurabh has become known to many people through his excellent work running the Authors@Google speaker series. Tom is a farsighted thinker, and it’s going to be interesting to see how Saurabh’s career unfolds at Markel, and what sort of h
c. Liberty Media
John Malone at Liberty Media has created enormous value for his shareholders and has been a fair partner to his capital providers. An investment in Liberty requires a willingness to look carefully at the specific security that one owns and to keep paying attention because there is almost always some kind of financial engineering going on and one needs to be careful about which securities one chooses to go with.
d. Brookfield Asset Management
Bruce Flatt at Brookfield is someone who, like Warren and Charlie can be considered to be delivering a ”return on integrity”. My experience has been that if you invest alongside Bruce Flatt, you can be confident that you will be treated fairly. But as Brookfield has grown, there has been a proliferation of funds and vehicles. It’s a style that suits Brookfield, but it does mean that one needs to pay attention regarding which vehicles one picks.
e. Exor
John Elkann and Exor only recently came onto my radar. I started following John through my investments in Fiat and Ferrari and after having met him at the Berkshire Hathaway meeting.
This year, I attended his annual meeting in Turin for the first time. It’s taken me a long time to cotton on to the simple idea that future companies like Berkshire Hathaway and Markel insurance will not have to be based in the United States. John Elkann has Italian roots, but a global education and outlook. His ambitions for Exor are very similar to those of the Markel family, and I believe that he is a worthy partner.
Article by Iolite Partners
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