Inside the Rope with David Clark

In this episode of Inside the Rope , host David Clark sits down with Frédéric de Mevius, a ninth-generation member of the family behind global brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev and founder of Verlinvest and Planet First Partners. Managing intergenerational wealth over centuries presents unique structural and strategic challenges, particularly when transitioning from legacy industrial stewardship...

In this episode of Inside the Rope , host David Clark and Tom Oryl dive straight into the rapidly evolving private credit sector alongside Raghav Khanna, Co-CIO of Oaktree's Private Credit Wealth Products. As high-profile defaults like the Bathla collapse make local headlines, sophisticated investors are left questioning where real yield ends and structural fragility begins. Raghav breaks down...

Host David Clark chats with Dr. Joanna Syroka of Fermat Capital Management to unpack the structural capacity deficit hitting traditional insurance markets and how Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS) are stepping in to bridge the gap. As massive systemic shifts push loss potential beyond traditional balance sheet limits, capital markets are proving essential in underwriting modern risk. The conversat...

Host David Clark sits down with Gary Hui, Portfolio Manager at Geometrica, to unpack how equity investors can consistently generate asymmetric, double-digit returns without relying on leverage. Active managers often struggle with crowded consensus, cognitive bias, and unpredictable market drawdowns - particularly when navigating disruptive thematic shifts like AI capex or sector-wide sell-offs. Ga...

In this episode of Inside the Rope , host David Clark welcomes back Rob Tucker , Founder and Portfolio Manager at Chester Asset Management . Capital allocators today are squeezed between speculative AI valuations, sticky inflation, and policy-driven domestic drag. Rob shares his unvarnished framework for allocating across predictable cash flows, tactical cyclicals, and uncorrelated ballast like go...

David Clark sits down with John Knox, Head of Australia and New Zealand at Ares Management, to pull back the curtain on how elite alternative asset managers unlock value in today's private markets. From scaling a massive $640B+ platform to analysing the structural shifts driving the boom in private credit, Knox breaks down how institutional investors successfully navigate market volatility and...

David Clark sits down with Jeremy Samuel, Founder and Managing Director of Anacacia Capital, to break down the mechanics of disciplined investing across the private and public mid-market space. Investors frequently face the dilemma of choosing between crowded, mega-cap equities priced to perfection or chasing speculative, unproven early-stage growth. Jeremy draws upon foundational principles learn...

David Clark sits down with Dr. Christian Baylis, founder of Fortlake Asset Management, to dissect why the traditional defensive playbook is failing sophisticated investors. Dr. Baylis leverages his unique background - spanning elite international athletics, a PhD in inflation forecasting, and a decade managing $26 billion in fixed income and derivatives - to expose the structural shifts changing t...

In this episode, we welcome back Michael Traill , the co-founding partner of For Purpose Investment Partners (FPIP). Michael joins host David Clark to address the inefficiencies dominating headlines with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) currently facing a $56 billion sustainability crisis fueled by un-registered providers, fragmented technologies, and unsustainable operating margins...

In this episode of Inside the Rope , hosts David Clark and Tom Oryl set the stage for a deep dive into the highly specialized world of royalties and uncorrelated alternative streams. Following up on our recent discussion regarding water rights, we shift our focus to Partners Group and the pioneering work they are doing to bring institutional-grade, illiquid assets into the wholesale and retail mar...

How do you secure resilient, institutional-grade returns when traditional equity and bond markets are increasingly volatile? The answer might lie in the driest inhabited continent on Earth. In this episode, we sit down with Kim Morison , Managing Director of Argyle Water , a pioneer in channeling capital into the Australian agricultural sector. After a three-year period of flat performance driven...

Have you ever stopped to consider the psychology behind the clutter in your garage? Or how that consumer vulnerability has quietly morphed into one of the most resilient, high-yield asset classes of the last three decades? For many sophisticated investors, alternative real estate feels like a minefield of over-hyped trends and cyclical volatility. When equity markets get choppy, finding a true cou...

Eighty percent of everything you consume travels on a ship. Your iron ore, your energy, your Amazon delivery - all of it. So why do so few sophisticated investors have any exposure to the asset class that makes it happen? This week David sits down with Anurag Agarwal, Head of Portfolio Management at J.P. Morgan Asset Management and co-head of their Global Transportation Group. Anurag spent years o...

Private markets are more popular than ever, but for many investors, the "exit" sign is becoming harder to find. As public markets remain tight and private equity hold periods stretch from five years to seven or more, a pressing question emerges: How do you actually get your cash back? In this episode, we sit down with Tim Ivers , Managing Director of Warana Capital , a specialist who has...

Is the current AI-driven market rally a structural revolution or a speculative mirage? David Clark sits down with David Jenkins , Client Portfolio Manager at GQG Partners , to dissect the firm's recent contrarian stance on the technology sector. Investors are feeling the squeeze of a "growth-at-any-cost" market. Jenkins explains why GQG, a firm managing over $250 billion AUD, is movi...

With AI reshaping industries at a speed few investors have experienced before, many portfolios are caught between fear of missing out and fear of overpaying. Which businesses will genuinely benefit, and which are simply riding the narrative? In this episode, David Clark sits down with Qiao Ma , Portfolio Manager at Munro Partners, to unpack how professional investors are navigating one of the most...

In this episode of Inside the Rope , David Clark sits down with Chris Aylward, a veteran of Australian property markets whose career spans more than five decades. From leasing office towers in Melbourne in the 1970s to founding APN Property Group and navigating multiple financial crises, Chris has seen every phase of the real estate cycle. For investors trying to make sense of today’s market - ris...

If you’ve recently had a liquidity event, inherited complexity, or are quietly wondering whether your portfolio is truly built for the next 30 years — this episode is essential listening. In this conversation, Ian Macoun, founder of Pinnacle Investment Management, joins David Clark to unpack what actually drives sustained investment excellence — and what quietly destroys it. With over $200 billion...

Inside The Rope's episode with Ian Macoun will release next Tuesday, the 3rd of March 2026.

In this episode of Inside the Rope, David Clark speaks with Morry Waked, Managing Director and Head of Investments at Vinva Investment Management, a firm that has quietly become one of the most successful systematic investment managers in global markets. Built primarily serving institutional investors, Vinva has grown into a $43 billion manager spanning Australian and global equities, delivering c...

David Clark is joined by Jamie Montgomery, co-founder and managing partner of March Capital, to discuss the forces reshaping venture capital, artificial intelligence, and the U.S. economy. Jamie reflects on building Montgomery & Co, backing category leaders like CrowdStrike, and what it takes to advise founders through scale. He shares why quantum computing, open-source large language models, and...

David Clark is joined by Jim Rohrstaff of Legacy Partners for a wide-ranging conversation that sits at the intersection of elite sport, long-term capital stewardship, and global lifestyle investing. From his early years in the US Midwest to building a career that spans golf, business leadership, and international living, Jim shares how the principles that underpin high performance in sport - disci...

David Clark sits down with Ben Forman, Founder and Managing Partner of ParaFi Capital, one of the world’s leading institutional investors in blockchain and digital assets. Ben’s path into digital assets is anything but conventional. Trained in traditional private equity and credit at firms such as KKR and TPG, he began his career analysing businesses through a deeply fundamental, cash-flow-driven...

In this episode of Inside the Rope, host David Clark sits down with Sam Reynolds, CEO of Octopus Investments Australia, to unpack one of the most critical and investable themes of our time: the global energy transition. As energy costs rise and the pathway to net zero becomes increasingly complex, Sam offers a grounded, data-driven perspective on how capital can be deployed responsibly without com...

In this special edition of Inside the Rope, host David Clark brings listeners into a raw, deeply personal roundtable with three exceptional founders who have stood at one of the most defining crossroads in wealth: the liquidity event. Moments where years, sometimes decades, of sacrifice, risk, and relentless effort crystallise into life-changing capital. Featuring: Julie Mathers, founder of Flora...