You worked overseas and you worked with leading wealth management companies. We
noticed again since COVID that emerging managers and smaller investors are not finding
an entry to the big checks from two different sources and we see that most of the
big checks they go to the larger wealth management, where we see today two of them,
they cross the 10 trillion dollars in asset and their management. Nobody asks them
where they're allocating the money, but we know where most of it is being allocated.
Where do you see the future for the emerging managers for smaller companies to
survive when they are seeking raising capital for themselves. - That's a great
question.
So actually earlier this year I was part of the panel with like those big wealth
management firms and like our opinions were completely different because these are two
different markets just like you say it's single family office, multi -family office,
the same thing is like big wealth management firm versus a small one. So the big
one, the large ones, if you think you can even think of Blackstone, Kikiara, Polo
and so on, they can afford to sit on the sideline, right? They can wait. They
capital is fine. They will find an alternative. They will invest in something fixed
income. They will generate those 7 -8 percent. They are fine, but they cannot take
an extra risk because the investor's investor profile is completely different and they
have a reputation built. Well, as a smaller fund manager, you need to move. As an
independent sponsor, you need to do deals. You cannot wait. You cannot wait for the
interest to go down. You cannot wait for the best moment to do it.
So you need to move. I guess actually defining where, as an external asset manager,
so in order to be able to offer to our investors, which are usually family offices
or high -network individuals. We need to have a clear value proposition. And we
really need to make sure that the fund managers are leveraging the best skills and
the expertise in what they do. So usually the very first thing I'm doing when I
get them on board is rewriting the investment thesis or most of the time fund
managers don't even have one. So building an investment thesis on what are you
actually going to do with the money you will get? And what are you best at? How
are you going to leverage? Because you get to see as a fund manager, you get to
see so many shiny things, so many fancy things, new ideas, everything. But you kind
of forget that they are completely outside of area of expertise and the risk of
default is so much higher. So I guess just staying in your line and doing what's
the best, what are you best at and then targeting based on your investment thesis,
you will already identify your investor profile. - So in summary, you say,
do I understand that the ultra wealthy will stay the course, whatever they were
doing before COVID, they still doing the same, or now they are more open? Just give
us an idea from your daily experience. - From my daily experience, I will say they
are the same or a bit more conservative even. They don't really jump into,
'cause I think even technological advancement, they happen very sharply during after
2021, and they jumped into investing into all fancy things. They didn't have
expertise in, so now they are coming down. And I can see one of the most recent
deals we closed is actually in alternative energy, but we see so many projects in
alternative energy, and they are all tackling different parts of it, it is a great
idea. You have reduced costs, you have incentives, you have, there is a global
mission of reducing, of moving towards an alternative and cleaner energy. But
investors also understand that they don't have the right expertise to do that. And
even if there are incentives, they're just like they don't understand how there are
so many players on the market and in this type of asset class you really need to
be the expert or to work with experts to make the right investments otherwise they
prefer to stay away. Thank you.