David speaks with Paul Bassat of Square Peg Capital, a firm that invests in early-stage technology companies across Australia, Israel and South-East Asia, such as Canva, Fiverr & Athena Home Loans. Before starting Square Peg, Paul was a corporate lawyer who went on to achieve well-known success in founding Seek, the marketplace and HR company, a company that now employs more than 1,000 people in Australia and over 10,000 people around the world. Square Peg was launched in 2012 to fill the vo...
Dec 07, 2020•50 min
In this episode, David speaks with Chris Andrews, the Chief Investment Officer at La Trobe Financial. La Trobe Financial manages a book of mortgage-backed loans on behalf of investors aiming to receive returns over those provided by traditional cash alternatives in exchange for an acceptable level of risk. David and Chris discuss La Trobe's flagship product the 12-month term account, which as at the 24th of November, offers investors a return of 4.35% p.a. net of all fees. This $3.5bn strategy i...
Nov 23, 2020•34 min
John comes back onto Inside The Rope to revisit COVID-19 and discuss the things that he believes Bronte Capital miscalculated at the beginning of the pandemic, along with what else they could have done better. He and David also discuss how society measures the risk vs reward benefit of returning to normal activities in light of COVID-19, along with how that is relevant from the perspective of investing in financial markets. John also highlights some of Bronte's latest investments, which John pla...
Nov 09, 2020•1 hr 2 min
David and George discuss how investors can invest ethically in the fixed income space. Impact investing allows investors to not only generate a financial return but also contribute positively to society and/or the environment. In George's words, impact investing is the way of the future. The Regnan Credit Impact Trust is a strategy which aims to deliver returns of 1-3% pa over a rolling 3 year period whilst investing in opportunities that are assessed on both Regnan's ESG and MSCI sustainability...
Oct 26, 2020•41 min
Dr Craig Collie of Regal Funds Management joins David on this episode of Inside the Rope to discuss his career to date, starting as a medical doctor in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom before transitioning into financial services and ultimately his role at Regal. Craig manages a sleeve of Regal's Market Neutral strategy, being long-short global healthcare and more recently a sleeve of Regal's listed investment trust. These sleeves have a diverse universe of global stocks, with holdi...
Oct 12, 2020•39 min
In this episode, David chats with Rob Morrison from Barwon Investment Partners to discuss the Barwon Healthcare Property Fund. In seeking to identify areas of the property market that Rob believes are under-researched, Barwon found that the healthcare sector had lower levels of institutional investment despite its fast growth and 10% allocation to Australian GDP. As a result, establishing a Healthcare Property Fund has allowed Barwon to provide investors with income returns of over 7% p.a. combi...
Sep 29, 2020•27 min
Since launching Inside The Rope three years ago, David has been able to chat with some of the industry leaders in financial services. In this special episode of Inside the Rope, CEO of Koda Capital Paul Heath interviews David to discuss his observations over these three years. David takes time to reflect on many of the episodes that he has conducted, including those with famed investors such as Hamish Douglass, Phil King & John Hempton. Covering their similarities and differences, Paul and D...
Sep 16, 2020•35 min
Fellow Koda Partner Frank Macindoe joins David in the latest episode of Inside the Rope to discuss his extensive career in both commercial law and financial advice, as well as the success he has achieved as an avid investor in Australian equities. Within their conversation, Frank gives an overview of the diversified portfolio of Australian equities that he manages. This portfolio (the Koda Enduring Equities Portfolio, also known as ‘KEEP’) aims to invest in strong businesses with a focus on long...
Sep 01, 2020•40 min
In episode #73 of the Inside the Rope podcast Koda Adviser & Partner David Clark speaks with Lindsay Partridge AM, Managing Director at Brickworks Building Products. Brickworks is one of the world's largest building supply manufacturers, and they have additionally grown to include a Land & Development division that maximises the value of surplus land created by their building products business. Lindsay outlines the firm's origin and strategy, and also discusses its large investment in Wa...
Aug 19, 2020•28 min
Kerry joins David to discuss impact investing, and his career in financial markets. Throughout the episode, Kerry and David discuss and define what impact investing is, the framework used by the team at Inspire Impact and the key differences to ethical (ESG) investments. Kerry is a Partner at Inspire Impact, a profit for purpose organisation that connects capital to social entrepreneurs. Inspire Impact invest in and advise purpose-driven businesses, assisting them to generate meaningful return t...
Aug 03, 2020•44 min
Anthony Millet from Antler joins David to discuss early-stage venture capital. Antler receives 50,000 applications a year to their programs around the world and spends over 200 hours with each team ultimately resulting in Antler investing in over 160+ companies. Over the past year since launch, the fund has delivered investors returns of 34%. Anthony and David discuss how Antler discover successful businesses, ideas and entrepreneurs. As well as how they cultivate the ideas and help the founders...
Jul 21, 2020•30 min
Having an IRR of 26.4% across all transactions in property, Adam Murchie joins David on this episode of Inside the Rope. Adam is a specialist in funds management and investment and has worked in the property industry for 20 years. He and David discuss the strategies deployed by the team at Forza as they aim to provide investors with the best property investments possible based on their risk and return appetite. In this episode, Adam and David discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on property as an ass...
Jul 07, 2020•51 min
Delivering returns of 13.38% over the past 6 months (to May 2020), Daniel from Alceon chats with David. Daniel and David discuss the Alceon High Conviction Absolute Return Fund, and dig into how Daniel thinks about running the absolute return focused strategy. The fund, which takes a fundamental, research-driven, high conviction approach in a benchmark unaware fashion, has delivered returns of 13.38% over the past 6 months (to May 2020 and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic). Having run successful...
Jun 24, 2020•23 min
What makes for a quality government bond portfolio, and why should investors be attracted to them? In this episode, Charlie and David discuss the benefits of high-quality government bonds in what Jamieson Coote say can help defend and protect investors portfolios by providing income, liquidity and downside protection in a period of heightened volatility. Jamieson Coote Bonds managed approximately $5.25bn in assets before the COVID-19 Crisis whilst delivering returns of 7.64% over the last 12 mon...
Jun 09, 2020•40 min
Delivering returns whilst providing impact, Cullen joins David to discuss the Kilter Rural impact investments. Since 1993 Cullen has been working in the farmland and water management sector. While holding a strong grounding in active, hands-on land management, at a strategic level Cullen holds experience in the development of priorities for investment at both catchment and state levels in Victoria. Cullen went on to establish Kilter Rural in 2004 as a vehicle for investment in sustainably manage...
May 29, 2020•47 min
Managing a credit portfolio across several asset-backed loans (and previously corporate loans), James and the team at Aquasia's enhanced credit fund have returned 6.76% p.a. since inception (October 2011). However March saw the fund have its first negative month, as the fear of COVID-19 saw credit spreads widen and valuations shift. As James highlights, this isn't necessarily a reflection on the assets themselves or an immediate decrease in quality, but more so the price that investors are willi...
May 18, 2020•26 min
Regal Small Companies fund has returned 18.4% p.a. (as at April 2020) since inception (Feb 2015). As part of the COVID-19 Special Episodes, David chats with Phil King of Regal Funds Management. Late last year when David last spoke with Phil, Phil believed that it was a great time to invest. However, throughout this episode, Phil argues that it's important investors change their portfolios as the facts change. Investors should constantly ask themselves, "Is my thesis still valid?", and as we have...
May 12, 2020•24 min
How has COVID-19 affected property? In this episode, Chris and David discuss the impact of COVID-19 on property asset prices. Chris is a portfolio manager for the Quay Global Real Estate Fund. The fund itself has returned 11.7% p.a. since inception in July 2014 till March 2020. Post-March the global REIT market has not recovered to the same extent as global equities. Chris puts this down to the number of sectors within real estate that are socially driven. This includes Retail, Office/Commercial...
Apr 29, 2020•32 min
Magellan Global has returned 14.78% over 1 year to the 31st of March 2020. In what Hamish calls a classic Black Swan event, he and David discuss the recent impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across global financial markets. Initially presenting as a localized epidemic in China, COVID-19 has evolved into a global pandemic that has wreaked havoc on financial markets around the world. Despite there being no modern rule book on how to navigate investments during the pandemic, Magellan's Global Fund has...
Apr 23, 2020•47 min
Alium Market Neutral returned 7.2% in March. Martin Rosser joins the podcast again to discuss how the Alium Market Neutral Fund has been able to generate positive returns during the COVID-19 pandemic. By identifying early market trends such as growth in the share price of "In-Home" businesses as events transpired in places such as Hong Kong, Martin and the team were able to make sensible investments before COVID-19's growth accelerated throughout Australia and the rest of the world. The team als...
Apr 14, 2020•22 min
Adrian runs the Merricks Capital Partners Fund, a fund that provides senior asset secured debt to real estate, agriculture & occasionally infrastructure. The fund has provided investors with consistent returns of 12% p.a. net of fees (as at Feb 2020) with relatively low levels of volatility and an overall loan to value ratio of less than 60%. Throughout the episode, Adrian discusses the impact of COVID-19 including the fund's recent performance and uplift throughout March, which was amplifie...
Apr 03, 2020•39 min
The Totus Capital Alpha Fund is up 9% CYTD for 2020, during a period when global equity markets have rerated significantly. Throughout the episode, Ben discusses the opportunities he believes are being created in markets, and the short term trends that have been created by the virus. Similar to our previous guest John Hempton, Ben argues that this is a virus issue at its core which cannot be solved through central bank intervention. Ben also discusses the ongoing management of Totus' book, which...
Mar 30, 2020•27 min
In John Hempton’s eyes, what is occurring in financial markets is not an economic problem that can be solved through central bank stimulus. It’s a virus problem, and as a virus problem, it can only be solved through scientific intervention such as vaccines. John believes that the measures taken by central banks may cause more harm than good and that over the next 4 weeks we will see COVID-19 tip its hand to show us the full extent of its impact. In this special episode of Inside the Rope, David ...
Mar 15, 2020•46 min
Chris joins David in this special episode to discuss the Coronavirus, housing markets, private debt and LIC stamping fees. Chris is of the view that the increased market volatility presents opportunities for investors, however they must be cautious. He highlights the implications on financial markets posed by Coronavirus and speculates that whilst the Chinese may surprise with an early vaccine we should conservatively assume that it will be 12+ months away. Given this and current market expectat...
Mar 10, 2020•37 min
Investing in growth opportunities that present themselves as emerging winners, Jeff backs the individuals behind what he identifies as a successful business. He is well known as an early backer of both Magellan Financial Group (MFG) and Goodman Group (GMG) and his fund is currently the largest shareholder of Pointsbet (PBH). With the firm belief that everything you do in life makes you a better investor, Jeff highlights how the experiences he has gained throughout his career as an accountant and...
Mar 02, 2020•36 min
Deriving uncorrelated returns to traditional asset classes, as at January 2020 the Argyle Water Fund has returned 19.1% p.a. since inception (2012) by investing in water rights across Australia. Returning to the podcast for a second time, Kim joins David to discuss the fund's change in banner from Bluesky to Argyle along with other topics such as the recent bushfire crisis that has been ongoing across Australia, as well as the impact of different climate conditions on Australia's water supply. A...
Feb 17, 2020•30 min
The Ophir Opportunities Fund has returned 26.1% p.a. since inception in August 2012 (net of fees) and their latest Global Opportunities Fund has returned 33.8% p.a. since inception in October 2018 (net of fees). Andrew attributes the success of Ophir's funds to their commitment of keeping their finger on the pulse, travelling a lot, meeting companies, learning from their mistakes and creating a strong alignment of interests between the team and their funds. In Andrew's words "I do not own a couc...
Feb 04, 2020•34 min
Targeting what Roger refers to as 7/11 (7% income and 4% growth), Palisade's Diversified Infrastructure Fund has returned 10.2% p.a. over the last 10 years (as at 30 June 2019). Roger defines infrastructure as a defensive asset that is essential for the community, and in this episode, Roger and I discuss how Palisade are finding such assets across Australia. Roger also takes the time to highlight the importance of such assets to Australia and consequently why he believes infrastructure is a defe...
Jan 21, 2020•30 min
Tim Carleton from Auscap joins the podcast for a second time to discuss his new Global Equities Fund as well as the recent performance of the Long Short Australian Equities Fund. Currently invested in names such as Capri, Google (Alphabet), Microsoft and Visa, the new Auscap Global Equities Fund is an absolute return focused fund that targets high-quality value stocks. Tim highlights that the fund has a bias towards both developed markets and well known large-cap stocks with firm levels of gover...
Jan 06, 2020•38 min
Sometimes presents that may be perceived as "boring" can eventuate into the most exciting gifts that you have received. The Magellan Infrastructure Fund invests in listed assets with exposure to sectors such as toll roads, airports, rail and utilities. Gerald describes these assets as highly reliable, predictable and boring. However, Gerald and I discuss how investing in such assets has allowed the fund to return 20% during the last 12 months and generate returns of over 14% p.a. during the last...
Dec 23, 2019•45 min
