Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

Latest Episodes:

Allan Jean-Baptiste and Marco DeMeireles – Under-covered Venture Markets and Teams at Ansa Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.36) Sep 01, 2022

Show notes

On today's Manager Meeting, Andy Golden interviews Allan Jean-Baptiste and Marco DeMeireles of Ansa Capital. Andy is President of PRINCO where he has overseen the management of Princeton University's endowment since 1995. Alongside his long successful tenure, he is a master with wordplay and the use of the pun. Allan and Marco are the Co-Founders and General Partners of Ansa Capital, a thesis-driven growth equity fund launched earlier this year with backing from an impressive list of LPs. Their conversation covers Ansa's long-term perspective, approach to partnerships, risk management, team dynamics, and operating model. Allan and Marco also share their perspective on current market conditions, the opportunity set, and raising their first fund.

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Rodrigo Bitar – Empty Rooms: Investing in Venezuela (Capital Allocators, EP.268) Aug 29, 2022

Show notes

On today's show we'll discuss a classic empty room – an opportunity ignored by most investors. In this case, we dive into the investment case for Venezuela, a non-starter for pretty much every institution because of the country's autocratic political regime, sanctions, and headline risk. But alongside those known risks are the potential for significant rewards. Rodrigo Bitar is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of 3B1 Partners, the leading private equity fund making growth investments in Venezuela. 3B1 invests in high-quality companies with leading positions in basic industries, while looking to capture a change in macroeconomic conditions in the country. Our conversation covers Rodrigo's upbringing in Chile, professional background, and investment opportunity in Venezuela. We discuss Venezuela's sanctions, economic contraction, and dollarization of the economy. We then turn to investing in the country, including sourcing, due diligence, and an example of a recent transaction. We close with a discussion of the upside and risks to investing in Venezuela. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership Show Notes

(3:18) Rodrigo's background (6:50) Family dynamics (10:13) Investible assets in Venezuela (12:03) Impact of Russian oil restrictions (13:38) Surviving economic turmoil (17:27) Private vs. public markets in Venezuela (19:31) Identifying companies (21:51) Due diligence process (23:49) Assessing valuations (25:28) Risks unique to Venezuela (28:09) Conversations with potential investors (32:05) Closing questions

Carla Harris – Pearls of Career Wisdom (Capital Allocators, EP.267) Aug 22, 2022

Show notes

Carla Harris is a Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley, the most recent of many posts in her 35-year career at the firm that included serving as Vice Chairman of Wealth Management, heading the Emerging Manager platform, and running deals for decades as an investment banker and capital markets professional. She is the author of three books about navigating careers and leadership, Expect to Win, Strategize to Win, and the upcoming Lead to Win, each of which contains lessons she dubs "Carla's Pearls." In the last few years, Carla added Board seats to her professional portfolio and currently serves on a host of Boards including SEO, Harvard University, Walmart, and MetLife. She's also an accomplished gospel singer who has sold out shows in Carnegie Hall and the Apollo Theatre. Our conversation offers Carla's pearls of wisdom in navigating a career from her earliest days on the Street. We cover her background, path to Wall Street, framing a personal narrative, learning what's important to an organization, being authentic, taking career risks, and evolving multicultural opportunities in asset management. We then turn to lessons from Carla's new book, from sitting in the Boardroom, and from a letter to her 25-year-old self. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership Show Notes

(3:38) Carla's background (10:56) Early career lessons (12:51) Expecting to win (15:16) Adjectives of success (19:11) Learning from relationships (22:21) Being yourself (27:41) Client dynamics in banking (30:28) Engaging with ESG trends (33:32) "Pearls" from Carla's book (35:21) Creating trust and leaders (38:47) Experiences from the boardroom (41:06) Growing communication abilities (41:55) Closing questions

Howard Smith – Japanese Equities at Indus Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.35) Aug 18, 2022

Show notes

On today's Manager Meeting, David Huang interviews Howard Smith. David is an Associate Director at UTIMCO, the $66 billion investment company that manages the largest public endowment fund in the country. Howard is a Partner and Portfolio Manager of the Japan strategies at Indus Capital, an Asia-focused investment firm that manages $3.5 billion, including $1 billion focused on Japan. Indus was founded in 2000 by its Non-Executive Chairs, Sheldon Kasowitz and David Kowitz, upon spinning out of Soros Fund Management. David and Howard's conversation covers Howard's upbringing in the rural United Kingdom, experience in Japan, and investment philosophy. They discuss Indus's investment approach, global team structure, corporate governance in Japan, and opportunities on the horizon. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Paul Enright – Inside Long-Short Equity Investing (Capital Allocators, EP.266) Aug 15, 2022

Show notes

Paul Enright is a private investor managing his own capital under single family office, Krainos Capital. Paul opened Krainos after a dozen years at Viking Global Investors, the multi-billion dollar long-short equity hedge fund that also has been one of the most successful breeding grounds for talent in the industry. He has a deep understanding of intricacies of long-short equity investing and a knack for explaining it well. Our conversation covers Paul's career path to Viking, training while there, and advice to early-career investors. We dive into the distinction between business analysis and stock picking, and the importance of portfolio management to investment success. In the process, we discuss liquidity, shorting, portfolio rebalancing, incentive compensation, and market structure. We close with Paul's approach to managing his own money and his answers to a terrific set of questions sourced from his Twitter feed before the show.

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(3:11) Paul's background (8:11) Training at Viking (10:02) Stock picking (12:18) Business analysis (19:54) Liquidity's impact on valuation (24:03) Dynamic portfolio management (28:46) Rebalancing (32:03) Long/Short Dynamics (40:50) Compensation structures (43:11) Current market structure (50:29) Investment model as a family office (53:05) Thoughts on Twitter (57:07) Growing skills as a young PM (58:57) Advice to PMs in tough times (1:01:48) Best questions to ask managers (1:03:11) Closing questions

Brent Montgomery – The Disney Flywheel at Wheelhouse (Capital Allocators, EP.265) Aug 08, 2022

Show notes

Brent Montgomery is the CEO of Wheelhouse Group, a family office where he creates entertainment content and a venture capital fund that invests in businesses to amplify brands around talent. Brent is a media producer and operator whose first hit was Pawn Stars at his first production company, Leftfield Pictures. He later oversaw a host of reality television hits, including HGTV's Fixer Upper, Netflix's Queer Eye, A&E's Duck Dynasty, and Bravo's The Real Housewives of New Jersey, while running ITV America after he sold Leftfield to ITV. Our conversation covers Brent's childhood entrepreneurial efforts, creation of Pawn Stars, vertically integrating and expanding Leftfield's business, and the sale to ITV. We turn to the flywheel behind Wheelhouse, monetizing talent and intellectual property across production, marketing, merchandising, and events, its partnering with leading investors, and a few investment examples along the way.

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(3:16) Brent's background (8:22) Reality TV (9:47) Starting and operating a business (18:13) Investing in content at Wheelhouse (24:23) Team structure (26:59) Favorite types of investments (32:27) Insider's perspective (34:30) Thoughts on TikTok and Snapchat (36:35) Identifying talent and monetizing brands (39:56) Importance of investment arm (42:47) Trends in the world of content (45:52) Biggest risks (46:30) Closing questions

Avichal Garg – Programmer-Centric Crypto Investing at Electric (Manager Meetings, EP.34) Aug 04, 2022

Show notes

On today's Manager Meeting, Maneesh Gandhi sits down with Avichal Garg. Maneesh is a Partner at Evanston Capital, a $4.5 billion hedge fund of funds, whose CIO Adam Blitz was a past guest on Capital Allocators. Avichal is the Co-Founder of Electric Capital, an early-stage venture firm focused on cryptocurrencies, blockchain technologies, fintech, and marketplaces. He has been a successful serial entrepreneur with executive experience at Google and Facebook, which acquired his previous company in 2012. Their conversation covers Avichal's career as an operator, influence on his investment approach, conviction in crypto, and opportunities in today's markets. They cover Electric's investment strategy, differentiated team structure, investment examples, and the future of crypto. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Sarah Samuels – Framework and Rigor at NEPC (Capital Allocators, EP.264) Aug 01, 2022

Show notes

Sarah Samuels is the Head of Investment Manager Research at NEPC where she oversees teams across public equities, credit, hedge funds, and private markets for the $1.5 trillion investment advisory juggernaut. Prior to joining NEPC three years ago, Sarah worked at the senior level of both a top notch endowment and a public pension fund. She sought to bring the best of both worlds to her role at NEPC. Our conversation covers Sarah's early career investing, time in the allocator seat at Mass PRIM and Wellesley College, and decision to join NEPC. We discuss her key investment themes, investment framework blending qualitative and quantitative analysis, second-level thinking, CIO mindset, alignment of interest, private equity allocations, and investment committees. We close discussing Sarah's work on DE&I and her involvement in Girls Who Invest.

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Josh Friedman – Master Class in Credit Investing at Canyon (Capital Allocators, EP.263) Jul 25, 2022

Show notes

Josh Friedman is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Canyon Partners, a $25 billion multi-strategy firm that specializes in credit-related analysis across distressed securities, securitizations, risk arbitrage, and real estate. Josh founded Canyon in 1990 with Mitch Julis, his roommate from their time at Harvard Law School and Business School. Our conversation covers Josh's background at Goldman Sachs and Drexel Burnham with Michael Milken, the founding of Canyon, its investment philosophy, key stages on its path, and structure of the organization. We then turn to Josh's thoughts on the evolution of credit markets, liquidity, competitive dynamics among creditors, opportunities, and risks. We close with Josh's advice for investment committees based on his experience as a Trustee at Harvard Management, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and CalTech, among others.

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Mario Giannini – View from the Top of Private Equity at Hamilton Lane (Capital Allocators, EP.262) Jul 18, 2022

Show notes

Mario Giannini is the CEO of Hamilton Lane, where he oversees nearly $1 trillion of assets under management and advisement in private capital, making it perhaps the largest investor in private equity in the world. Mario joined Hamilton Lane thirty years ago and has spent the last 21 as its CEO. His breadth of knowledge and experience, alongside at times unconventional views, offers an unparalleled bird's eye view into this powerful area of investing. Our conversation covers Mario's background and a brief history of the private equity industry over the last thirty years. We discuss three characteristics of private equity firms that struggle: decision-making, concentration, and greed, and views on private equity firms across turnover, GP/LP relationships, LP Advisory Boards, and the pricing environment. We then turn to Mario's perspective on constructing private equity portfolios, data analytics, the middle market, continuation funds, LP appetite, and opportunities across sub-categories and geographies. We close with aspects of Hamilton Lane's evolution across co-investing, customization, going public, ESG, democratization, and the future of the industry.

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