The investors in the public markets are typically very passive, myopic, and under-informed.

That means that what we can utilize is exactly that.

Our strategy is designed to use those flaws of the market, if you wish, where we can act as an owner,

where the market is myopic, we can think in five, ten year perspectives,

and where the market is highly diversified, in instance, owning lots of companies,

so nothing is important to them.

Private equity is now an incredibly competitive business,

where almost everyone in private equity is acting the same way,

they look the same, they talk the way, they think the same way,

they have the same advisors and so forth, everything is similar. Which means, I mean, if you've studied microeconomics, everyone knows that if you have, you know, full competition and everyone, there's no edge anywhere, then, you know, you won't be able to outperform. And I think that's a little bit where private equity is going. Of course, there will be some private equity funds that are better than others.

But we have the benefit that we have not only a high value added strategy,

but also with very limited competition.

Activism might be one of the less helpful terms in modern investing,

a label that conjures up everything from

border and bust-ups to terse exchanges between shareholders who are disgruntled and incumbent

managements. However, not all activism is equal. And both at our own Money Maze Allocate

Summit last year, and this year, in eye connections in Miami, I've had the chance to observe,

understand and listen to Sevian Capital, Europe's largest dedicated active ownership fund.

Their approaches appear to us to be neither opportunistic nor headline-driven.

In fact, publicity shy and long- term. It appears to be methodical,

deeply researched, relentlessly operational. Today we wanted to test that thesis and understand

what activism actually looks like when it's long-term, constructive and executed with discipline.

...