In today’s episode, we have a Swiss physicist with a PhD who loves to climb mountains, but is also responsible for running Schroders's $75 billion private assets business (Schroders Capital). Rainer Ender explains their approach, which concentrates on indirect investments, partnering with both large global and small local firms. Its investment philosophy has a central focus on investing “1 step below the mid-market”. Rainer explains the inefficiencies and opportunities they believe exist in the ...
Aug 11, 2022•42 min•Ep. 72
David Novak, a 25 year veteran of CD&R, offers a candid perspective on how PE operating models have evolved, the drivers of value creation, and some of the structural advantages PE can offer to private businesses. He explains the public to private migration, shrinking stock market listings, the impact of technology on decision making for business owners and why family owned businesses decide to work with them. He discusses investments in SIG plc, the recent purchase of Morrisons supermarkets...
Jul 28, 2022•48 min•Ep. 71
In this special update podcast, we welcome back General Sir Nick Carter to provide his updated thoughts on the Ukraine War. He offers his perspective of the realities on the battlefield, the echoes and differences when compared to more traditional wars, the regrouping of the Russian army and its current focus and ambitions, and likely scenarios from here (including how the conflict may come to its conclusion later this year). He discusses the possibility for surprise gains by Ukrainian forces, t...
Jul 21, 2022•31 min•Ep. 70
Today, Bain Capital is one of the world’s largest private multi-asset investing firms. In this conversation we have the opportunity to explore their investment approach and dig down into the important factors in private credit and special situations. Jonathan dissects why he believes investing is not a game of predictions, and elaborates on the importance of “pricing risk versus understanding uncertainty ”. He talks about the example of investing in Virgin Australia and analyses their wider appr...
Jul 14, 2022•51 min•Ep. 69
With more than 96 billion dollars in assets under management (as of March 31st 2022), Vista Equity Partners is one of the world’s largest and leading software private equity firms. As Founder, Chairman and CEO, this success has helped Robert F. Smith become one of the most respected investors of his generation, being named by Forbes as one of the ‘100 Greatest Living Business Minds’ as well as one of the most generous philanthropists of his time. Robert describes his upbringing in Denver, how he...
Jul 07, 2022•48 min
In the second of our series on private equity, we are going to discuss one of Europe’s premier operators. Established as Schroder Ventures 35 years ago, the firm evolved into Permira in 1997. Today they have more than €60bn under management, employ over 450 people and operate in 16 offices worldwide. Permira has backed over 300 businesses; many of them, like Hugo Boss, Dr. Martens and McAfee software, are household names. Tara Alhadeff, Partner responsible for brand strategy in the consumer spac...
Jun 30, 2022•42 min•Ep. 68
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn In this Private Equity Miniseries, we examine why P.E. has grown to become such a significant artery in both the investment world and wider economy. We discuss if this growth is secular, and an investment environment which continues to lead to rethinks of asset classes available for investors. In this episode, I am delighted to speak to Robert Hamilton Kelly, Global Co-Head of Petershill Partners (part of Goldman Sachs ...
Jun 16, 2022•46 min•Ep. 67
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn In an investing world where the “new thing” can too easily grab investor attention, sometimes it’s the case that an institution, especially one almost 200 years old, may be considered less relevant. So in this episode we welcome on Sir Nigel Wilson, one of the longest serving FTSE 100 CEOs. He was knighted for his contributions to finance & regional development, and for running the 2nd largest institutional asset ma...
Jun 02, 2022•33 min•Ep. 66
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn Ray Dalio has described today’s guest, “as a vacuum cleaner of learning”, and in this episode Karen Karniol-Tambour exhibits a formidable grasp of the challenges of today’s investing environment. The conversation begins with a review of the current monetary challenge facing the Fed and leads into the dilemma for investors weaned on variations of the 60/40 benchmark. She explains Bridgewater’s enthusiasm for inflation pr...
May 19, 2022•51 min•Ep. 65
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn To celebrate our new sponsorship with LiveTrade , Bordeaux Index's new world-leading fine wine trading platform, we're pleased to be replaying our episode with Gary Boom. Originally recorded last summer, he discusses why he started the business and examines the investment opportunities in the fine wine and spirits market. In this episode Gary Boom, CEO of Bordeaux Index starts by explaining how the poorly organised, pas...
May 17, 2022•50 min
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn Today we have a different conversation. Michael Lewis and Simon Brewer go back to graduating from the LSE in 1985, when they were both seeking a place on the fabled Salomon Brothers training programme. Michael’s success in securing that job allowed the world to have the enduring classic, ‘Liar’s Poker’, and from there to write 16 best sellers (three of which have been made into major Hollywood films). His new book, ‘Pre...
May 05, 2022•58 min•Ep. 64
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn The world of quantitative investing is a varied one, ranging from “statistical arbitrage” funds that seek to exploit miniscule and often fleeting market mispricings, to systematically exploiting timeless return patterns. Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) is in the latter camp. Founded by Rex Sinquefield and David Booth - two pioneers of index funds - DFA primarily harnesses “factors” that drive market returns in the long ...
Apr 28, 2022•40 min•Ep. 63
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn Man Group is one of the world’s biggest hedge fund managers, and by some distance the largest listed one, with $148.6bn of assets under management. But the crown jewel of the City institution is Man AHL, a quantitative investment firm that alone manages over $57bn. AHL was initially started by three pioneers of systematic investing, Mike Adam, David Harding and Martin Lueck. Today, its band of programmers, data scientis...
Apr 21, 2022•35 min•Ep. 62
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn Leda Braga has earned the nickname “the queen of quants”. After a PhD in engineering from Imperial College London, she spent seven years at JPMorgan as a quant the bank’s derivatives research team. After a stint at a start-up spun out of JPMorgan, the Brazil-born Leda then helped establish one of the industry’s leading systematic trend-following funds at Michael Platt’s BlueCrest. In the wake of eye-popping financial cr...
Apr 14, 2022•44 min•Ep. 61
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn In this episode, we’re in discussion with the Global Head of the Blackstone’s $192 billion Private Wealth Solutions business, Joan Solotar. Joan has thrice been recognised in Barron’s as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance, and after a background in equity research covering financial services, she joined Blackstone in 2007. She starts by describing Blackstone’s growth to oversee approximately $880 bill...
Mar 31, 2022•38 min•Ep. 60
To mark two years since the show's inception, we're pleased to present this update of how the podcast is progressing and evolving to further serve our fantastic community. From the very beginning, we set out to share insightful and engaging conversations with leaders in both the investment and business worlds, backed by high quality research and first-hand experience in finance. Have a listen to this quick message here to learn about our mission and plans. Sign up to our newsletter for more in-d...
Mar 24, 2022•3 min
To celebrate our two year anniversary, we're resharing some of the most popular episodes of 2021. In this episode, Simon spoke to one of the world's most successful hedge fund managers, Sir Chris Hohn. He discusses his career, charity and his climate initiative (originally released in March 2021). In this episode we have the rare opportunity to talk to Sir Chris Hohn, founder of TCI, one of the world’s most successful hedge funds and benefactor of the $6 billion children’s charity (CIFF) and now...
Mar 24, 2022•31 min
To celebrate our two year anniversary, we're resharing some of the most popular episodes of 2021. In this episode, we welcomed Nicolai Tangen onto the show. Nicolai is the CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which administers Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest. This episode was originally released in June 2021. In this podcast, we have an enlightening conversation with Nicolai Tangen, CEO of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund and seasoned and successful investor. N...
Mar 24, 2022•44 min
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn In this special episode of the Money Maze Podcast, we are extraordinarily fortunate to have General Sir Nick Carter talk to us. If the world was already becoming more fractured, divided, uncertain and worrisome- the Russian invasion of Ukraine has made that landscape vastly more troubled. Sir Nick has sat at the top table of global military and security issues both real and strategized, fathoming these complexities, and...
Mar 11, 2022•47 min•Ep. 60
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn The combination of trust, experience, neutrality and secrecy were the foundations of Switzerland’s reputation as a centre for private banking, and despite globalisation, regulation, and competition from all quarters, Swiss financial institutions have maintained their position of influence, with three Swiss firms in the top ten of global wealth managers. To help explore this landscape, we welcome one of these top ten fir...
Mar 03, 2022•40 min•Ep. 58
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn Gavyn Davies has more on his CV than most can imagine. In his varied career, he’s been advisor to the Labour government of Jim Callaghan, the Chief Economist at Goldman Sachs, Chair of the BBC, founder of Active Private Equity, and now Chairman of Fulcrum Asset Management. He’s also an active writer for the FT and Guardian. Gavyn starts by describing his early work as an economic advisor to the Labour governments of 197...
Feb 17, 2022•46 min•Ep. 57
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn Hamish Baillie, long term Partner and Investment Director at Ruffer, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, joins the Money Maze Podcast to discuss their unbenchmarked, differentiated approach to managing portfolios. Hamish explains that over the 26 years since inception, by following their key investment principles, annualised returns have compounded at 9%, with a low level of volatility. Hamish observes that “o...
Feb 03, 2022•47 min•Ep. 56
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn Today we turn to music as an investment theme, and our guest has worked with the greats, from Elton John to Beyonce, and has been in the front row of the music business for nearly 40 years. He is CEO of Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd, a FTSE 250 company and the first UK investment company offering a pure play exposure to songs and music IP. Music and back catalogues have seen growing investor interest and a number of vehicles...
Feb 03, 2022•54 min
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn In this conversation, Vulcan’s C.T. Fitzpatrick explains the skills he acquired during 17 years at South Eastern Asset Management before founding Vulcan Value Partners in 2007. Today the firm manages approximately $20 billion, with a team of 64, all based in Birmingham, Alabama. He explains his approach to identifying and defining “high quality businesses”, the margin of safety he seeks, the goal of avoiding permanent c...
Jan 27, 2022•49 min•Ep. 55
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn In today’s conversation Luba Nikulina talks about an upbringing that began in Lithuania, then part of the USSR, and her route to joining Willis Towers Watson (WTW), the leading global advisory firm with 45,000 employees globally, and where she has spent the last 17 years. The discussion begins with WTW’s investment approach, a perspective on how strategic and tactical asset allocation have evolved and why Luba believes ...
Jan 13, 2022•54 min•Ep. 54
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn In a first for the Money Maze Podcast, this episode brings together the perspectives of 3 China experts to discuss the economy, public equities and private assets. The three guests are Chingxiao Shao, CEO of Red Gate Asset Management, Ron Cao, Founder & Managing Partner of Sky9 Capital, and Chi Lo, Senior Economist at BNP Paribas. The objective in this podcast is to explore the investment opportunities available in ...
Jan 06, 2022•42 min•Ep. 53
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn Our latest guest has been described as one of the ‘World’s Top 50 Thinkers’, is a Sunday Times bestselling author for his epic work ‘Silk Roads: A New History of the World’, is responsible for the prophetic article in December 2019 where he predicted a pandemic’s likely arrival, and has managed all this around his day job as the Professor of Global History at Oxford University. In this fast-paced, far-reaching conversat...
Dec 09, 2021•52 min•Ep. 52
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn In an industry where size is often a boast, there are few powerhouses with great credentials and a low profile. Founded in the US in 1973, Cambridge Associates (CA) was established to provide investment research and advice to a group of major US university endowments. Fifty years later, with over $550 billion of assets under advisement and 11 offices around the world, CA helps its investors customise portfolios. In this...
Nov 25, 2021•44 min•Ep. 51
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn Some of the most successful companies financed via venture capital are now household names - Facebook, Uber, Twitter, Airbnb, & PayPal. Venture capital has moved from niche to mainstream for institutional investors, and in Q2 2021 alone VC investment hit a new record high of $157.1 billion. In today’s conversation we are delighted to welcome Hunter Somerville, VC heavyweight, formerly General Partner at Greenspring,...
Nov 11, 2021•54 min•Ep. 50
Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn In light of the ongoing COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, we're re-releasing our episode featuring Sir Ronald Cohen. Sir Ronald is the Co-Founder of Apax Partners and is widely referred to as the 'father of social investment' (as well as being a key figure in shaping British venture capital). His 2020 book, 'Impact: Reshaping Capitalism to Drive Real Change', was a Sunday Times Bestseller and shortlisted in...
Nov 04, 2021•39 min
