41: Global Investing, Public and Private Markets: A rare interview with Peter Davies of Lansdowne Partners

Money Maze Podcast

Business, Investing, Management, News, Business News

4.8 • 216 Ratings

🗓️ 27 July 2021

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The FT has described our guest on this episode as one of 30 most influential people in the City of London. Moreover in the world of public and private investing there is repeated acknowledgement of him being one of today’s great investment thinkers. The firm he joined back in 2001, Lansdowne Partners, is widely admired amongst the global institutional investment community, and his perspectives and performance have been widely sought after.

In this conversation, we discuss Peter’s investing career to date, his approach to evaluating companies, public and private, the exciting IP being developed around Oxford University and why he is so excited about the business and investing landscape today, along with other important perspectives.

Peter initially describes the formative early years at Mercury Investment Management, some of the lessons he learned about investing and building a successful investment culture. He then describes his decision to join Lansdowne in 2001 and why he wanted to exploit the long/short opportunity set.

He describes the analysis undertaken to identify Northern Rock as a highly vulnerable institution and how they established a potent short position that was immensely profitable for their investors.

He continues by discussing the work post the Great Financial Crisis that led them to invest in many global brands as well as being early investors in the major tech platform companies such as Google and Amazon etc.

Fast forwarding he describes the move to become long-only, the investment culture that they have created at Lansdowne. which incorporates an important need to calibrate and understand a wide range of possible outcomes for each investment they consider.

Peter then moves to talk about the UK investing landscape and the opportunities he believes exist in public and private markets. Specifically he discusses some of the opportunities emanating from Oxford University and why the vaccine success offers opportunities for significant leaps forward in medical and other productivity gains. He also explains why he feels UK political risk has been mispriced and the important investing opportunities he has identified.

He describes his involvement with world class sports men and women, and learning lessons about decision making under pressure. He also talks about balancing time pressures, improving his own productive capabilities and lessons he would share with others.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to the Money Maze podcast. I'm Simon Brewer and Will Campion and I have created this show to explore and unravel some of the mysteries surrounding the investment business.
0:19.2	We hope through direct and insightful interviews with
0:22.2	masters of the real-life money maze, we're going to learn about different approaches to allocating
0:27.1	capital, making investment and business decisions, and navigating the pitfalls that lie in the paths
0:33.2	to prosperity. Whether you're a current or aspiring investor, entrepreneur, professional or student
0:39.6	exploring career options, we hope you gain some helpful insights and enjoy the shows.
0:45.1	You can keep up to date by visiting Moneymayspodcast.com and please sign up to our newsletter
0:50.3	to ensure you won't miss a release. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and we'd love you to tell a friend or colleague about it. Thank you for listening.
1:01.0	We're delighted to have Schroeder's as a sponsor and corporate partner. Shroder's is a global investment and wealth manager, with a purpose to provide excellent investment performance to clients
1:12.1	through active investment management. By serving institutions and individuals worldwide,
1:18.5	Schroeder serves wider society. Channeling capital into sustainable and durable businesses
1:24.1	accelerates positive change in the world. Funding the future is a privilege.
1:29.5	Schroeder use it wisely and responsibly. As we know, capital is at risk with investing.
1:36.6	A word on our other sponsor, Bramont, an award-winning British company that produces beautifully
1:42.2	engineered chronometers, designed to appeal to those who share the passion and appreciation of the innovation and mastery behind a beautiful mechanical wristwatch, brought to you by our title partner, the luxury British watchmaker, Vermont.
1:59.2	The FT has described my guest today as one of the 30 most influential people in the
2:04.2	city of London, and in the world of public and private investing, there is repeated acknowledgement
2:09.2	of him being one of today's great investment thinkers. The firm he joined back in 2001 Lansdowne
2:15.3	Partners is widely admired amongst the global institutional investment
2:18.7	community. And it's beating heart, Peter Davis, has helped them earn this reputation. So, Pete,
2:24.5	it's terrific to have you on the Moneybased podcast. I've known you for many years. So thank you,
2:29.1	first of all. And second, it's great to be doing this interview in person. Welcome to the new world.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Money Maze Podcast, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Money Maze Podcast and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.