Behind the Balance Sheet

Carine Smith Ihenacho is Chief Governance and Compliance Officer at Norges Bank Investment Management, the Norwegian wealth fund. It’s the largest single equity owner in the world and sets out to be the most transparent. She is therefore likely the most powerful person in the world of ESG. In our podcast episode, Huw van Steenis and I discussed: How you can combine sustainability with the pursuit...

Chris Mayer is the founder of Woodlock House Family Capital and the author of 100 Baggers: Stocks that Return 100-to-1 and How to Find Them. He has written several other books and formerly wrote an investingnewsletter which led him to travel the world seeking investment ideas.  Studying the universe of 100 Baggers has led Chris to a clear set of investing principles which mean his universe of inve...

Lawrence Cunningham is the author of 20 books; an academic with over 60 publications; a legal expert; an accounting expert; a governance expert; a director on 3 quoted company boards; and a company adviser. His most famous book is the Essays of Warren Buffett in which he extracts sections from the sage’s letters over decades and orders them by subject. In our conversation, he tells how he first me...

Peter Cowley was a successful angel investor. He sadly died just months after we recorded. And it was histragic private life which prompted this interview.  Two of his three children lost to suicide; their mother died unexpectedly; his sister lost to alcoholism; his brother died aged 21 from cancer; two decades in recovery from alcoholism; and he has now been diagnosedwith terminal Stage 4c cancer...

Steve Clapham and climate finance expert Huw van Steenis talk to Barry Norris, climate sceptic and founder and CIO of Argonaut Capital. Barry explains why he believes the economics of offshore wind are unsound. He likens wind and solar to unreliable workers and thinks nuclear and fossil fuel generation are the reliable workers. You can't have a factory staffed only by unreliable workers he argues....

Jonathan Ruffer is the founder of the eponymous asset management firm, a bold and successful investor (a combination unusual to survive, let alone thrive) and considers himself a financial historian. He remains the figurehead of the firm although has stepped back somewhat from the daily combat with markets. In this episode, he explains why he thinks the Yen could double, why the equities age is be...

Emmanuel Lagarrigue is the Co-Head of Climate at KKR and in this fascinating discussion, he explains why he joined the firm and what they are seeking to achieve in financing the energy transition. He explains how KKR sees a gap in the huge $7tn pa investment needed to fund the transition between the early stage investments and the mature infrastructure-like renewables area. This middle area is not...

Explaining what to expect from a new series of podcasts focusing on the investment opportunities (and risks) in the energy transition. With co-host, climate finance expert Huw van Steenis. Sign up for the newsletter.

Bill Browder is a human rights activist who championed the Magnitsky Act, signed into law by President Obama. It not only sanctions Russians, but others around the world. Similar legislation is now in place in over 30 countries. He is also a bestselling author and former hedge fund manager. In this episode, we talk about his career, about how he coped with a 90% fall in the value of his fund, abou...

Grant Williams is a former hedge fund manager who now publishes the monthly newsletter Things that Make You Go Hmmm and a subscription-only investing podcast channel that incredibly is one of the top 0.5% of all podcasts globally. In this fascinating discussion, Grant explains his fascination for Japan and why we should all pay attention. We discuss US Treasuries, and why there is a risk that the...

James Aitken is an expert in the plumbing of the financial system. We go on a world tour of the hotspots in global finance. You will learn why James is relaxed about the US; why the Japanese government will Make Japan Great Again and why this could have serious repercussions for global bond markets; and why China will likely muddle through, in spite of massive problems in its property sector. Show...

Sebastian Lyon is a conservative investor who manages two highly successful multi asset funds. His motto is simple over complex and he is intent on protecting the downside. In this interview, we discuss his views on markets (spoiler: not super bullish); how he built Troy into a significant asset management business from scratch; how he has managed his fund to deliver only 3 down years in 20 and cr...

Bill Smead has been in the investing business for over 40 years and has seen multiple cycles. He has an idiosyncratic investing philosophy which seeks to buy high quality stocks when they are out of favour. He has a concentrated portfolio of 26 stocks with 45-50% in the top 10 positions. Yet his holding period averages over 6 years. He explains why he thinks the stock market is going down over the...

Alec Cutler runs one of the best performing low risk global funds and has a pragmatic investing  approach. In this interview, we discuss inflation and markets and what this means for stock selection. Alec explains his views on what makes for a successful investment team. And he explains the principles of investing he learned as a child from his grandmother, which still guide his investingframework...

Guy Spier is a successful value investor and has spentconsiderable time creating an environment which will protect him and his fund from making mistakes through his own temperamental idiosyncrasies. He talks much more about environment design than valuation which is refreshingly different. We discuss why the best ideas are simple, yet analysts always want to impress with their understanding of com...

Beth Lilly is a highly successful value investor and an amazing woman. She has set up two asset management firms, worked with and learned from some of the most famous and some of the most successful valueinvestors in the world, and now runs money for the multi-billion Pohlad family in Minnesota. We discuss the power of compounding, Beth’s research processand how she conducts company meetings. We d...

William Green is the author of Richer Wiser Happier, an outlier in investing books as a best-seller. He is a craftsman and a perfectionist and having interviewed 40 of the world’s top investors for the book, has some fascinating perspectives on investing and on life. We split this interview into two parts. Last time we heard Green explain that the great investors are such thoughtful practical phil...

William Green is the author of Richer Wiser Happier, an outlier in investing books as a best-seller. He is a craftsman and a perfectionist and having interviewed 40 of the world’s top investors for the book, has some fascinating perspectives on investing and on life. William spent five years painstakingly crafting the book and distilling his learnings from interviewing the world’s top investors. T...

Mario Gabelli is the billionaire founder of GAMCO and still managing money in his 80s. He believes in an in-depth research process, limiting his investments to the sectors he feels he understands. He believes in visiting companies – not just investees but their competitors and their whole value chain; in reading tradejournals; and in monitoring the results of the sector. The day after we spoke he...

Gavyn Davies is an economist and a former partner of Goldman, Sachs. He is the Chairman and co-founder of macro asset manager Fulcrum Asset Management and a co-founder of 3 other multi-billion asset managers. He is a former Government adviser and was Chairman of the BBC, the UK public service broadcaster. Of course we talk about economics, about investing, and about financial services; but we also...

Tian Yang was a fascinating guest and we covered a wide range of subjects. He explains why ChatGPT may be useful in solving accounting problems, but it produces gibberish when asked about investing. We talk about his work on the commodity super cycle, looking at rubber, whaling and fur.  He explains how he applies quantitative techniques to the capital cycle framework championed by Marathon Asset...

Chris Bloomstran is best known for his incredibly detailed analysis of the valuation of Berkshire Hathaway. Not only is he an outstanding value investor, he is a highly accomplished analyst. His Semper Augustus annual letter runs at over 100 pages and in recent years, it has included an evaluation of Berkshire Hathaway – his analysis of the stock is the best I have read. In this interview, we disc...

Dominique Mielle had an illustrious career as a distressed debt hedge fund manager, including building a $5bn CLO business from scratch at Canyon Advisors. She retired from hedge funds, wrote a book, amusingly titled Damsel in Distressed (it was too good not to borrow), about her story to inspire women to follow her lead.  In this interview, she talks about why there are not more women in hedge fu...

Vitaliy Katsenelson is an investor and writer. Born in Russia, he now runs an investment adviser in Denver which specialises in picking individual stocks and eschews the usual 60:40 portfolio with equities indexed. In this podcast we talk about investing, about his third book and about his life philosophy. Vitaliy has a wisdom beyond his years and his positive attitude can improve anyone’s life. A...

Barry Ritholtz hosts Bloomberg’s Masters in Business, one of the most popular business podcasts in the world. He rather modestly says he was one of the first. Ritholtz not only has managed to interview investing heroes like Ed Thorpe, Ray Dalio (twice) and Michael Lewis (four times) but also has built a $3bn wealth manager in just ten years.  In this interview, Barry explains why financial TV is i...