Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

Latest Episodes:

WTT - I Don't Know May 27, 2023

Show notes

I share a bunch of questions on my mind for which my best answer is "I Don't Know." These include issues around sovereign debt, asset allocation, an economic slowdown, the stock market, private credit, and life itself.

Kiyan Zandiyeh – Empty Rooms: Venture Capital on the Emerging Frontier at Sturgeon Capital (Capital Allocators, EP.317) May 25, 2023

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Today's sponsored insight is another empty room, an opportunity ignored by most investors because they either don't want to or can't participate. This time around, we'll discuss investing where capital is truly scarce - the frontier of the frontier markets. Kiyan Zandiyeh is the CIO of Sturgeon Capital, a +$300 million private investment firm that backs bold founders building the leading technology companies in countries early into their digital transition, including Bangladesh, Central Asia, Egypt, and Pakistan. Our conversation covers Kiyan's early entrepreneurial and investing experience, venture and operating experience building two businesses in Iran through 80% currency devaluations, and Sturgeon's venture strategy from there. We discuss Sturgeon's investment process across country selection, targets, founders, valuation, risks, and investment examples. We close touching on Kiyan's ambition in the coming years.

For full show notes, visit the episode webpage here. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Amy Falls – From Bonds to Boards to Leading Northwestern (Capital Allocators, EP.316) May 22, 2023

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Amy Falls is the CIO at Northwestern University, where she oversees the school's $14.2 billion endowment that supports university operations and funds about a quarter of the University's annual revenue. She also serves on the Board of Harvard Management Company, the Ford Foundation, Phillips Academy, and the Pete Peterson Foundation. Our conversation covers Amy's background and path to Northwestern, frameworks she learned along the way, and different challenges she faced in three different CIO seats. We then turn to her thoughts on manager selection, liquidity, and across asset classes, covering fixed income, private credit, private equity, public equity, and China. We close with Amy's insights from her experience working with investment committees and parallels between her passion for farming and investing.

For full show notes, visit the episode webpage here.

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Sam Zell – A Tribute to a Legend (REPLAY – EP.253) May 20, 2023

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Last Thursday, we lost Sam Zell, one of the true investment greats and one of the most popular past guests on the show. As a small tribute to the great man and investor, we are replaying my conversation with Sam from last year. Please enjoy the incredible and entertaining story of Sam Zell, the true contrarian whose common sense generated uncommonly exceptional returns – in dollars and in a life well lived.

Selective Search on Private Equity Deals May 17, 2023

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It's executive search…for love. On Episode 6 of Season 2 of Private Equity Deals, Brent Beshore from Permanent Equity describes their purchase of the highest end matchmaking firm in the world. When you think of dating, Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, and Match.com come to mind. Or if you're high profile enough or watch Billions, you might think of Raya. Well alongside the world of app dating, Selective Search has paired up the crème of the crop with an old school approach and 87% success rate for years. Learn about the business and deal by searching for Private Equity Deals on your podcast player.

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Marc Lasry – Avenues of Opportunity (Capital Allocators, EP.315) May 15, 2023

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Marc is the Chairman, CEO, and Co-founder of Avenue Capital Group, a global investment firm focused on distressed debt that he founded in 1995 with his sister, Sonia Gardner. Almost thirty years later, Avenue manages $12 billion in assets. Our conversation covers Marc's background and path to investing, the early days in distressed, inflection points in Avenue's history, including the decision to return half the capital in 2011 and to sell a minority stake to Morgan Stanley, and owning a stake in the Milwaukee Bucks NBA franchise over the last decade. We then turn to the investment environment, attractiveness across geographic regions, creating a competitive advantage, and opportunities in distressed lending, sports, and Asia. We close discussing Marc's involvement in politics and lessons from chess and poker.

For full show notes, visit the episode webpage here.

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Richard Craib – Crowdsourcing Data Science for Returns at Numerai (Capital Allocators, EP.314) May 11, 2023

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Today's Sponsored Insight is from Richard Craib, the Founder and CEO of Numerai, a machine learning-based hedge fund launched in 2015 that crowdsources models from data scientists around the world to predict stock returns, incentivizes participation through cryptocurrency, and centralizes portfolio construction and risk management. Our conversation covers Richard's background, some basics of data science, and the Numerai thesis. We discuss the firm's idea generation, incentive system, quantitative modeling, portfolio construction, and team. We close with investors' reaction to the product and research and development on the horizon. For full show notes, visit the episode webpage here. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Tony Yoseloff – Forty Years of Davidson Kempner (Capital Allocators, EP.313) May 08, 2023

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Tony Yoseloff is the Managing Partner of Davidson Kempner Capital Management, a forty-year-old, $40 billion multi-strategy investment management firm that specializes in opportunistic credit and event-driven investing. Tony joined DK twenty-five years ago out of business school and became its third Managing Partner in 2019. He also sits on the investment committees of Princeton University, Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, and New York Public Library. Our conversation covers the early days of Davidson Kempner, growth over the last quarter century, team, investment philosophy, investment strategy, risk management, and ownership. We discuss Tony's experience on investment committees, the role of opportunistic credit in institutional portfolios, and the future of Davidson Kempner over the next forty years.

For full show notes, visit the episode webpage here.

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Ashby Monk – Investor Identity, Navigation, and Resilience (Capital Allocators, EP.312) May 01, 2023

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Dr. Ashby Monk is the Executive & Research Director of the Stanford Research Initiative on Long-Term Investing. Ashby has studied and advised the largest asset owners in the world for more than twenty years with a particular interest in how to improve outcomes for their beneficiaries and the world. Ash also serves as the Head of Research at Addepar, a fintech company that helps investors make smarter decisions. He has twice appeared on the show – as the 29th guest back in 2017 and again two years ago – and those conversations are replayed in the feed.

Our conversation starts with a recent paper Ashby published called Investor Identity: The Ultimate Driver of Returns. We discuss the descriptors of identity and enabling factors that determine each investor's fingerprint. From there, we dive into technology as an enabler and how technological innovation can improve returns. We then turn to ESG investing and another of Ashby's recent papers, Submergence = Drawdown + Recovery, that discusses the importance of considering the combined drawdown and recovery period in making investment decisions.

For full show notes, visit the episode webpage here.

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[REPLAY] - Ashby Monk – Innovation in Institutional Portfolios (Capital Allocators, EP.196) May 01, 2023

Show notes

Dr. Ashby Monk is the Executive and Research Director of the Stanford University Global Projects Center. Ashby was named by CIO Magazine as one of the most influential academics in the institutional investing world. His current research focuses on the design and governance of institutional investors, with specialization on pension and sovereign wealth funds. Ashby's most recent book, The Technologized Investor, is a practical guide showing how institutional Investors can gain the capabilities for deep innovation by reorienting their strategies and organizations around advanced technology. He also recently released a significant white paper on transparency and innovation for institutional investors for the Biden Administration. Our conversation follows-up an early podcast, Episode 29, which is replayed in the feed. This time around, we discuss the power of asset owners, issue of transparency, need for innovation and obstacles to achieving it, how and when to create change, examples of climate work at New Zealand Super, the Australian Super Funds, and Canadian Pension funds, and Ashby's handful of technology start-ups focusing on these challenges.

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