orion

Two weeks ago I sold my OTE holdings. Had a nice run up and I took my profits.

Added some KO and some URB.A

They now consider a disposition of their insurance unit: http://mongoliagrowthgroup.com/?p=2050

Just found this book on Amazon: "The Billionaire Shell Game: How Cable Baron John Malone and Assorted Corporate Titans Invented a Future Nobody Wanted". Can anybody recommend it or is the author really too biased?

40,9% Insurance Basket (AIG, LRE, MKL, Y) 30,9% "Malone" Basket (LMCA, STRZA, LBTYA) 9% KO 8,8% URB.A 8,1% Basket (BKW, MCD, LTD, RB, YAK) 2,3% BRK

May I ask the board what they have done with the Starz shares? I also stumbled over this news: Cohen has now a 5.7% stake in Starz. http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/billionaire-steve-cohen-tops-warren-buffett-in-starz-strza-56506/

Has nothing to do with Liberty Media but I, nevertheless, find this very interesting. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/a-deal-for-dell/

What does this forum think about this instrument: http://dbfunds.db.com/notes/Japanese/short.aspx

Thank you giofranchi. I just ordered a copy of "Call me Ted". Maybe this will also give me a better understanding of the industry. At least I will learn more about Ted Turner :)

Just finished the book "Cable Cowboys" and watched his 2012 Lecture. (BTW: Thank you to this forum for pointing me to this book!!) What a guy! I´m just curios at this point: Is there a main vehicle for John Malone? I see and understand the different aspects of all the companies, but is there one that has the most attention of Mr. Malone? Is it more the content (therefore: Liberty Media) or is it the cable (Liberty Global) or aren´t there any preferences visible?

I´m living in Germany and whenever I invest in some foreign stocks (US, Canada, etc.) I have a currency-risk. I have no idea what the EUR/Dollar will do in the future, and I have no interest to speculate. Currently, whenever I invest in some US stocks I convert just 50% of the Dollar-amount. Therefore I´m neither completely wrong nor completlely right. How do other members of this board manage this problem?

Hi orion, could you tell us which German small-cap you are so heavily invested in? I would appreciate it very much! Thank you, giofranchi Hi giofranchi, the German small-cap is TAKKT AG. It is a B2B mail order company for furniture/ business equipment. Nice FCF, low CAPEX. Here is their latest company presentation: http://www.takkt.de/tl_files/download/German_Equity_Forum_TAKKT_2012.pdf EDIT: This one gives a better overview: http://www.takkt.de/tl_files/download/Roadshow%20November%202012_neu_final.pdf Only downside with this company is that their major shareholder wants the FCF via dividends. orion

2012: +44,02% 2011: +8,85% Very concentrated portfolio, half of the portfolio in a German small-cap and the rest in several insurance stocks. + some Yen-Shorts

Wow. topping his 110% level to 120% of BV. Nice recommendation from WB to buy BRK :)

IB is showing me that BRK B has been halted? Is this just a quote issue with IB or is there any news?

+1 feared also some kind of "halo effect" but it indeed looks promising.

Maybe a stupid question but I´m wondering why not all insurance companies show a loss table in their reportings? I was starting to research Allied World Assurance Co Holdings (Ticker: AWH) and liked the BV development and their CB-ratio over time. But I couldn't find a loss table in their report?

Greenlight Capital Re just published their latest investment returns. They made 8.8% in Q3 and are up 12.1% year to date. http://greenlightre.ky/?q=node/150 I hope they just do as well on the insurance side.

Thank you for all the comments. I just found a good PDF (Analysis and Valuation of Insurance Companies) which is quite long and will keep me busy the next few days. Maybe someone will find this useful too. http://www.columbia.edu/~dn75/Analysis%20and%20Valuation%20of%20Insurance%20Companies%20-%20Final.pdf

Right now I want to broaden my circle of competence a little bit and learn more about insurance companies. After understanding the basic principles, I´m still curious about one thing: Is there a way to examine (or at least some hints, heuristics) the quality of recently written premiums or is this just a black box and the only way to judge this is to wait and look at the results in future years?

I was reading the book "Damn right" about Charlie Munger and on page 164 there is an excerpt from a testimony of Mr. Munger. The notes in the book say this is from: Superior Court of the State of California for the Country of Los Angeles, Metropolitan News Company v. Daily Journal Corporation and Charles T. Munger, July 1, 1999, Vol. 12, pp. 1819-20. Beeing a German and unfamiliar with the US law system, is there a member on this board who could help me get this testimony/ give some hints how to optain this document? Thank you for any help.

I´m definitely not a trader and I don´t try to time the markt but I´m still a little bit nervious about the outcome of the greek election. I´m German and my portfolio is therefore also a little bit heavy in German stocks (~50% Germany, ~45% US and 5% Canada). My problem ist that im fully invested in the market right now - I couldn´t resist buying some bargains. Does anybody here hedges his portfolio because of the election?

PlanMeastro, thank you for your thoughtful comments and the link.

Speaking about Greece, I hope someone on this board can give me their thoughts about OTE (Hellenic Telecom Organization S.A.) the Greek telecommunication company. (OTCBB: HLTOY) (This isn´t an investment idea, so I didn´t want to post it in that section.) - The business is clearly suffering and in decline, but the company trades for about 2x FCF. - 40% of it´s stock is owned by Deutsche Telekom AG - The company has an substantial amount of debt on their books. The biggest risk would be, if Greece exits the Euro. Then the debt will still be denominated in Euro but the company would take in only "Drachmen" (or whatever they will call the new currency). And this new currency will definitly devalue against the Euro. On the other hand, they have a strong partner in Deutsche Telekom AG. So maybe even in this worst-case situation the company could survive. Any comments are welcome.

Great article. Know your edge and beat "the dealer" ;-) http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/04/the-man-who-broke-atlantic-city/8900/?single_page=true (...) When Johnson and the Trop finally agreed, he had whittled the house edge down to one-fourth of 1 percent, by his figuring. In effect, he was playing a 50-50 game against the house, and with the discount, he was risking only 80 cents of every dollar he played. (...)