The Wall Street Lab

Today we have some absolutely non-special guests. We talk to...ourselves.

To celebrate our 50th episode we made our own random episode, talking about our founding story and sharing some background on our professional lives. We also share some of our favourite episodes, books, podcasts, online learning resources and a bunch of nonsense comments. If you expect deep insights into a new financial topic, better wait for the next episode. If you want to know a bit more about us und get some recommendations, please stay and enjoy the episode.

Peter Chun is the founder of Silverbear Capital, a globally positioned consulting and investment banking firm. Peter Chun has nearly 20 years of International finance expertise. He specialises in corporate restructuring, corporate finance, and M&A. He has worked with and represented companies of all sizes and configurations. He also brings listing experience in Korea, Toronto, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, and in the US, as well as experience in the private equity/ pre-IPO arena.

In our conversation we discuss:

Asian mergers & acquisitions trends * The biggest biggest differences in M&A in US / EU and Asia * The 2020 M&A environment expectations * The COVID-19 effects on the market and expected outcomes * US-China-EU trade relations in 2020 * M&A / IB careers in Asia and differences from US / EU

As always, please do not forget to take 17 seconds to leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from.

Be well and #stayhome!

Luke, Leo & Andy

Disclaimer: Information contained in this podcast constitutes the opinions of individuals and should not be treated as: Investment, Tax, Financial, or Legal advice. We take no responsibility for the accuracy of any statements made in this podcast. This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and it does not contain an offer to sell or buy any sort of financial products and should not be treated as advertisement for such. Any copying, distribution or reproduction of this podcast without the prior permission of the creators of this podcast is strictly prohibited.

Howard Marks is co-chairman and co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management a leading global investment firm with deep expertise in credit strategies, which manages more than $120 billion in assets. Howard is the bestselling author of the two highly influential books: "Mastering the Market Cycle: Getting the Odds on Your Side" and "The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor". He is also known for his very insightful investor letters, which has been claimed to be must-read material by many well-known investors, including none other than Warren Buffett. Howard holds a B.S.Ec. degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a major in finance and an M.B.A. in accounting and marketing from the University of Chicago.

“Experience is what you got, when you didn’t get what you wanted” – Howard Marks

In our conversation we discuss:

• How Oaktree experienced raising and deploying capital during the GFC of 2008
• The difference between scepticism and negativism
• The similarities between investing and tennis
• The rise of passive investing
• The importance of being a contrarian
• The mood swings of market participants and how that affects one’s own investment decision
• Why he writes and what has kept him motivated to write even though his letters once were not as popular as they are today
• And much more!

“When I see memos from Howard Marks in my mail, they're the first thing I open and read" – Warren Buffett

"Howard is a legendary investor" – Tony Robbins

As always, please do not forget to take 17 seconds to leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from.

Be well and #stayhome!

Luke, Leo & Andy

P.s. The content of this conversation is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute financial, accounting, legal, tax.... advice. You know the drill, right? If you want to listen to the full disclaimer, just skip through the amazing conversation with Howard, and go straight to the end of the episode and you will be highly entertained.

Christopher (“Chris”) Schelling is the Director responsible for Private Equity investments at Texas Municipal Retirement System (“TMRS”). Prior to joining TRMS, Chris served as Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Director of Absolute & Real Return at Kentucky Retirement Systems and as an Adjunct Professor of Finance at University of Kentucky, where he taught a class in Alternative Investments.

He If you are an allocator and want to know more about how some of the best in the business go about vetting their private equity fund managers, this episode is for you! Aside from being a well-known columnist for Institutional Investor, and a guy who makes his passion, deep understanding and curiosity for the profession very evident, Chris takes quite a scientific approach to manager selection. We start our conversation by going through Chris’ career, we move on to discuss the due diligence process at TMRS in more detail, covering topics such as their sourcing funnel, how they sperate the “wheat from the chaff” and their investment their investment approval process. We then get very specific about how Chis and his colleagues at TMRS evaluate one of the 4 P’s of manager selection, the People (the other three being Process, Product and Performance). In fact, Chris wrote a great article for Chief Investment Officer about the topic titled “Psyching out Money Managers”, which you can find here and serves as great background for that discussion. Finally, Chris talks about careers as an allocator and what it takes to succeed in this field.

In such trying times marked loneliness and social distancing, give your friends (and your enemies, who knows?) the gift of knowledge and companionship by sharing this podcast with them.

Also, please don’t don’t forget to take 23 seconds to leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from.

By the way – don’t take anything said in this episode as investment advice. It is not! We might just as well have made all of this up. Be smart and speak to an investment professional if you are looking for advice. For a full version of the disclaimer, I would recommend you go to the very end of this recording. Luke’s sexy British accent alone will make it all worth it!

Be well and #stayhome!

Luke, Leo & Andy

Lila Preston is a Partner at Generation Investment Management, and is Co-Head of the Growth Equity platform – Generation’s private equity fund. Generation was, amongst others, founded by former US Vice President Al Gore. In Addition, Lila serves on the board of several companies. Lila holds a Bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and an MBA from London Business School.

In this episode we deep dive into the world of ESG and Sustainable Investing. Lila talks about Generation’s investment approach and process, from research, over pipeline building, deal sourcing, to the decision factors. We take you step by step through the process of what it means to invest with impact into Private Equity. Lila also shares some great career advice and the importance of culture in a company.