SoundCloud - MOI Global Ideaweek : Interview with David Marcus, Evermore Global

[John Hjorth]

SoundCloud - MOI Global Ideaweek : David Marcus -  Great owner-operators in Europe.

 

Mr. Marcus' Company Website. [<- Please note that financials, writings to clients etc. are available on the website.]

 

I listened to the podcast episode yesterday, and I liked it. Mr. Marcus is in the interview touching stuff like the Wallenbergs and their Investor AB, Kinnevik AB, Ratos AB, Bolloré & EXOR N.V. etc. - some of it stuff that we actively discuss here on CoBF.

 

If you're interested, I hope you like it too - It'll take almost an hour of your time.

[Guest]

I actually had a small stake in the fund a while ago.

 

I'll say that I think the fund is a pass. He's trailed the benchmark (small/mid world) after nearly 10 years and has barely beaten MSCI ACWI ex US.

 

He also had a middling record under his funds at Mutual Series (though to be fair, he ran it from 1998-2000, which was tough for value managers. But, his record was middling compared to value indexes too).

 

On top of that the fund is an expensive.

 

https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/evgix/quote.html

 

He ran a hedge fund for a while but that didn't work out.

 

I also find it strange he has less than $1 million in his fund.

[John Hjorth]

Thank you for shedding some light on the fund Mr. Marcus is running, Paul,

 

Funds like this have always been a no-go for me personally, for two reasons : Taxes and fees.

 

I was more posting with the intent of providing a link to some speaking of a money manager, who for at a part of his available capital has been practicing an investment approach, that has at least some traction here on CoBF, including my own personal interest.

 

I'll definitely comb out to me interesting stuff in his writings that may have appeal to me, for further study.

[cameronfen]

The comment also goes to trying to learn from him.  Why spend time learning the strategy of someone who hasn't outperformed the market over a long time and with small funds.  It seems like it would be detrimental to adopt his techniques and maybe not only be a waste of time by using up time to perform even poorer. 

[John Hjorth]

cameronfen,

 

That comment of yours makes sense, if that was the only part of the investment approach of the fund, which it's not. Its investment approach is a combination of investing in special situations and the investment approach primarily covered by the interview.

 

For material about successful implementaton of this "compounder" approach I refer to the shareholder letters by Mr. Elkann for EXOR. [Every investment approach can be executed poorly.]

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

This topic was not meant as a pitch for the fund. I'm sorry I did not express that clear enough in the starting post.

[Jurgis]

Did anyone understand/figure out the name of the company at 27:10 "Akkermans hundred year old company in Belgium"? I did not find anything called "Akkermans", so that's probably wrong spelling/name.

[John Hjorth]

Jurgis,

 

Somehow, I knew in advance, that this particular topic may have triggered your interest, based on my knowledge gained over the years about how you invest.

 

Here is CoBF link to the company as guidance.

 

The family years.

The stock exchange years.

 

In short, I still thinks dredging stinks, -but please enjoy! [ : - ) ]

 

[Credit: CoBF member : wachtwoord]

[Jurgis]

Lifco might be interesting although does not seem to be cheap on the first glance:

 

https://lifco.se/investors/

https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/lifcob?countrycode=se

 

(Probably should open Lifco thread if anyone wants to discuss more).

 

In general though, I have gotten somewhat skeptical about family conglomerates. People look at these as mini-Berkshires, but it's not so simple to create a conglomerate with great returns. Yeah, just buy a bunch of good businesses at fair price, decentralize, and you're golden. In reality, there's probably more "mini-Berkshires" that failed than that succeeded. Or maybe not failed, but delivered so-so returns. And so-so returns are likely not considered a failure for the controlling family.