Colossus

This week, we break down the public investment company, 3i Group plc. 3i has become best known for its investment in European retailer - Action. In 2011, it invested ~£106 million. It has since received back £2.9 billion, or 25 times what it put in, and the value of its investment today is £14 billion, a return of over 100 times the original investment. It's a fascinating business and Luke Bridgeman, Portfolio Manager at Hosking Partners, does a great job explaining it. https://lnkd.in/eM5sUn_S Matthew Reustle, CFA

For your consideration this weekend! I make an appearance on the Making Markets podcast, hosted on the Colossus platform, talking all things India and India venture / startups. Enjoyed chatting with host Eric Golden, CFA unpacking the Indian venture and startup ecosystem for Eric. Enjoy! https://lnkd.in/gV46nTuN

Both Sam Zell and Charlie Munger gave me the same advice: Invest heavily in building relationships with other high value people. Charlie Munger said (1) Ben Franklin and Andrew Carnegie did this and (2) that he followed their example. At the first Founders Podcast event 150 founders, investors, and executives spent 2 days building relationships with each other. Countless investments, partnerships, and friendships have formed as a result. Because the first event was so successful at helping listeners of Founders build relationships with each other, I am hosting another one July 29th-31st in beautiful Scott’s Valley, California. I believe being together in person is the way to seed relationships. Come hang out with me for 2 days and meet other high value people at the next Founders event. You can apply to attend at the link below. I hope to see you there! — I’m doing this event in partnership with Rick Buhrman and Paul Buser founders of a $500 million holding company Sator Grove Holdings. They will be leading a session on building a permanent capital holding company, investing in world class entrepreneurs, and the power of relationships (they know everyone!). Don’t miss it!

Today, we break down LIFCO AB (PUBL). Lifco is a high-performing conglomerate from Sweden. It is a fascinating business, best exemplified by its previous CEO, who bought shares immediately after being fired because the stock was down 8%. Since 1995, Lifco has compounded its capital 413x. Adnan Hadziefendic explains everything you need to know to Zack Fuss: https://lnkd.in/eU28YDcS

We're releasing a special episode today on the CHIPS Act. Matthew Reustle, CFA talks to Todd Fisher, a KKR veteran who is now CIO of the CHIPS Act office. They discuss supply chain issues, incentives, capital allocation, supply/demand dynamics, and lots more. https://lnkd.in/g5DC2KTP

Today, we break down InterDigital, Inc. The company helps make all wireless communication possible, including 4G, 5G, WiFi, and video. It is one of the largest pure R&D and licensing companies in the world, with 30,000 patents. 7 billion devices use InterDigital technology. Matthew Reustle, CFA, Jennifer Wallace https://lnkd.in/etkBA6Ct

The Colossus episode on Bajaj Finserv where Matthew Reustle, CFA interviews Marcellus Investment Managers's Saurabh Mukherjea, FRSA is an exceptional one. Worth a listen / read even if you are not in fintech, if only to understand what an incredibly tight biz model they have built. The growth numbers are mindblowing, resulting in a $50b mcap co. Saurabh: "over the last 16 years, this company has compounded share prices 1,000x. That's underpinned by 30% loan book CAGR, 50% PAT CAGR. So 50% PAT CAGR over 16 years, I think that's roughly 650x PAT compounding over 16 years." Whoa! They say there are 4 elements to a lending business - cost of capital, cost of acquiring customer, quality of underwriting, and ability to collect. You need to great at at least two of these and ok at the others (cant be bad) to run a profitable lending biz. Bajaj Finance is that rare lender, who is great at all four elements, from what I understand from the podcast. Some fascinating data points in the podcast. 1/ Like this one on the lending market, and how Bajaj is about a sixth of the nonbank lending market. Saurabh: "Banks lend around $2 trillion in India. Nonbank sector lends around $250 billion. Bajaj Finance's loan book is $40 billion." 2/ The explainer on their hero product, the zero-interest EMI was illuminating. 3/ I heard once that Bajaj Finance is Salesforce's 2nd biggest account globally. I couldnt believe it then, but now after reading / hearing that Salesforce had to create a separate dbase for them (they have 1000 datapoints on 200m Indians), I can understand. 4/ The 65-hour workweek and the long hours is interesting. It is not usual for an Indian co to have a 7am start to the workday, and for the long hours to be so explicitly coded. All in all, a terrific primer on a world-class business that has got built out of India. Saurabh Mukherjea has an exceptional handle on the business. Loved the colour he has on the biz such as how each unit does their own capital allocation, and how HQs ups or downs their quota depending on their performance. Link to the piece (incl transcript): https://lnkd.in/ge2gBjiS