Latest / Bloomberg Intelligence / Opportunity For Value In Private Equity
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg Markets Podcast. I'm Paul Sweeney. Alongside
- 0:04Speaker 1: my co host Matt Miller. Every business day we bring
- 0:06Speaker 1: you interviews from CEOs, market pros, and Bloomberg experts, along
- 0:11Speaker 1: with essential market moving news. Find the Bloomberg Markets Podcast
- 0:15Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts, and
- 0:18Speaker 1: at Bloomberg dot com slash podcast. You know, one of
- 0:22Speaker 1: the areas of investments in these markets that continues to
- 0:27Speaker 1: attract tremendous amounts of capital is private equity. And in
- 0:31Speaker 1: a world where you've got a ten year yielding one
- 0:33Speaker 1: point five percent um, people are looking for returns, looking
- 0:37Speaker 1: for yield, and the asset class of private equities one
- 0:40Speaker 1: of those areas that continues to generate superior returns. Glenn Mincy.
- 0:44Speaker 1: He's a national sector leader for private equity at KPMG.
- 0:48Speaker 1: He joins us here. Glenn, thanks so much for joining
- 0:50Speaker 1: us here. I'd love to get your maybe thirty thousand
- 0:53Speaker 1: foot view of the private equity space, and I'd love
- 0:56Speaker 1: to get it into context of pre pandemic and maybe
- 0:59Speaker 1: kind of where we are now. Give us your thoughts. Thanks, Paul. Yeah,
- 1:05Speaker 1: and you know, in the area of impact investing specifically
- 1:09Speaker 1: in E s G. I'd say that before the pandemic,
- 1:13Speaker 1: private equity had been active and responsible investing. But looking back,
- 1:17Speaker 1: I think there was maybe the naive sentiment that COVID
- 1:21Speaker 1: was going to stall or halt progress in the space.
- 1:23Speaker 1: But the social impact of the pandemic really accelerated the
- 1:27Speaker 1: industry's awareness of environmental and social issues, and it really
- 1:31Speaker 1: pushed that intersection of E s G related issues with
- 1:35Speaker 1: financial return. And if you look at the driver's oh sorry, Paul, Um,
- 1:40Speaker 1: go ahead, Glenn, this is Kayleie. Nice to speak with you.
- 1:44Speaker 1: So if we're they're pushing more towards E s G,
- 1:46Speaker 1: where specifically, where are investments being made, Well, it's you know,
- 1:53Speaker 1: if we're talking about the new economy, you know, we're
- 1:56Speaker 1: all looking at angels on the head of a pen
- 1:58Speaker 1: to determine what that new account m is going to
- 2:00Speaker 1: look like. And we often we often say that, you know,
- 2:03Speaker 1: COVID um that after COVID tech was a horizontal across
- 2:07Speaker 1: all asset classes. And there's no question that impact investing
- 2:11Speaker 1: in the s G are going to be integrated across
- 2:13Speaker 1: the other asset classes as a horizontal future and the
- 2:17Speaker 1: you know, the area is that, UM, if you think
- 2:20Speaker 1: about it, they're changing, you know, there the p funds
- 2:24Speaker 1: are they're actively looking at E s G and and
- 2:27Speaker 1: it's it's you know, a question for your energy funds,
- 2:30Speaker 1: for example, do you shift your focus from traditional oil
- 2:33Speaker 1: and gas oil its services to you know, the so
- 2:36Speaker 1: called transition companies companies that support transition to cleaner, more
- 2:41Speaker 1: affordable energy like storage and renewables. UM. You know, you
- 2:46Speaker 1: guys have looked at totally for example, UM and other
- 2:50Speaker 1: plant based products. You know that that continue to attract
- 2:54Speaker 1: mainstream investor attention. UM and Totally is actually, you know,
- 2:58Speaker 1: it's doing well, and it's it's a good ample of
- 3:01Speaker 1: uh work, consumers willing to pay more for your product
- 3:04Speaker 1: for the beneficial impact that it has on society. Glenn,
- 3:07Speaker 1: give us a sense of kind of private equity, what
- 3:11Speaker 1: percentage of their invested funds are are targeting E s
- 3:16Speaker 1: G types of investments. It just doesn't seem like I'm
- 3:19Speaker 1: not even sure a how you define it be how
- 3:21Speaker 1: you measure it. UM, give us a sense of how
- 3:24Speaker 1: private equity is approaching that. Well, yeah, yeah, your point
- 3:28Speaker 1: about measurement is actually a good one. The you know,
- 3:31Speaker 1: the perception, mostly in the US. I guess is that
- 3:34Speaker 1: private markets have been slow to pick up on the
- 3:36Speaker 1: s G monitoring and reporting because I figured, you know,
- 3:39Speaker 1: getting that meaningful data from portfolio companies was a little
- 3:43Speaker 1: too difficult, and there were skeptical their skepticism about whether
- 3:47Speaker 1: the market was ready to accept the costs associated with
- 3:50Speaker 1: measurement reporting. But that information is really so vital to
- 3:53Speaker 1: being able to determine not only where you stand, but
- 3:56Speaker 1: what you need to do in the future. And let's
- 3:57Speaker 1: let's face it, right, doing the right things, it's it's imprecise.
- 4:02Speaker 1: You need verifiable metrics and data and the uniform standard,
- 4:06Speaker 1: and there's been right now, there isn't a uniform standard.
- 4:09Speaker 1: There's no one standard to rule them all. But you know,
- 4:12Speaker 1: there's an opportunity to change that, and that you know,
- 4:15Speaker 1: as a percentage, each of the you know, the largest UM,
- 4:19Speaker 1: some of the some of the largest funds you know,
- 4:22Speaker 1: whether it's UM, whether it's TPG, Bang, KKR, black Stone, Carlisle, Apollo,
- 4:29Speaker 1: they all over whether before COVID or over that period
- 4:33Speaker 1: of time, they all really invested significantly. They know they
- 4:38Speaker 1: their funds are in excess of the billion dollars each
- 4:41Speaker 1: and they're putting that money to work right there. They
- 4:45Speaker 1: have a lot of cash to deploy, right. Are there
- 4:47Speaker 1: enough targets out there? You know? I think and as
- 4:53Speaker 1: I said, you know, before the pandemic, they've been active
- 4:56Speaker 1: in responsible investing. And yeah, I'd say that, I'd say
- 4:59Speaker 1: almost every day it you look and there is you know,
- 5:02Speaker 1: there's a two hundred million dollar investment here, there's a
- 5:04Speaker 1: billion dollar investment there. Um, you know totally was was
- 5:09Speaker 1: a terrific example just in the past what two weeks
- 5:11Speaker 1: of the IDA um and yes, so yeah, Cley, I'd
- 5:17Speaker 1: say there are there, there's a plethora of targets. Talk
- 5:20Speaker 1: to us about returns, Glenn E. S G. I keep
- 5:22Speaker 1: hearing how E s G provides superior returns. I'm just
- 5:26Speaker 1: I'm very skeptical. What are you finding in the PE space? Um,
- 5:31Speaker 1: the you're you're touching on greenwashing, right, Paul, and here
- 5:40Speaker 1: let's let's let's talk about the elephant round far and not.
- 5:43Speaker 1: It's probably accurate to say that p suffered in the
- 5:46Speaker 1: past from reputational issues, and not just in p but
- 5:50Speaker 1: but across all industries. There's a concern that companies are
- 5:54Speaker 1: just going to do impact in e s G by
- 5:56Speaker 1: press release, right, the company has will announced they're going
- 5:59Speaker 1: to the carbonized and you buy any credits to fulfill
- 6:02Speaker 1: that commitment, and you haven't really changed anything. Um. But
- 6:06Speaker 1: I think I'd say the P he really sees value
- 6:08Speaker 1: here and and the desire to contribute to a better
- 6:13Speaker 1: world is is certainly a motivator. That's truly a motivator
- 6:16Speaker 1: on a personal level. I know many of these heads
- 6:18Speaker 1: of funds and it's really clear to me that each
- 6:21Speaker 1: of them fervently and passionately believes it was the moment
- 6:23Speaker 1: in time to really make the world a better place.
- 6:27Speaker 1: But they're in the business of making money. And what's
- 6:30Speaker 1: made the P industry successful in the past is the
- 6:33Speaker 1: ability to future trends. But you know, they need to
- 6:37Speaker 1: say they need to stay ahead of the game. And
- 6:39Speaker 1: all right, Glenn, I just have to leave it there
- 6:41Speaker 1: just in case, just because of the time we really
- 6:42Speaker 1: appreciated Glenn Mincy, National Sector leader for Private Equity at KPMG. Well,
- 6:49Speaker 1: the metrics for vaccinations are have been very, very impressive
- 6:53Speaker 1: here uh in the United States, and now we're starting
- 6:56Speaker 1: to see supply outstrip demand and so we'll starting to
- 7:00Speaker 1: see Um, you know, the US sending extra vaccines globally,
- 7:04Speaker 1: I think beginning in August, and that's a good thing.
- 7:07Speaker 1: Let's bring in Lauren Sour she's Associate Professor of Emergency
- 7:10Speaker 1: Medicine the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. And I should
- 7:12Speaker 1: know that the Bloomberg School of Public Health is supported
- 7:15Speaker 1: by Michael Bloomberg, founder Bloomberg LP, Bloomberg Philanthropies and this
- 7:19Speaker 1: radio and TV operation. Lauren, thanks so much again for
- 7:23Speaker 1: joining us year. We always appreciate getting your thoughts and
- 7:25Speaker 1: input as we try to navigate through this pandemic and
- 7:28Speaker 1: now through the vaccines and the reopening. Talk to us
- 7:31Speaker 1: about how important it is for the US to be uh,
- 7:35Speaker 1: you know, kind of a leader here and exporting some
- 7:37Speaker 1: of its vaccines globally. Yeah. Absolutely. Um. The w h
- 7:41Speaker 1: O has a campaign, Um. I believe it's called Nobody's
- 7:45Speaker 1: Takes Till Everybody is Safe, and I think that really
- 7:47Speaker 1: speaks to the fundamentals of live vaccine sharing is important.
- 7:50Speaker 1: We have to make sure that we have global reach
- 7:53Speaker 1: of these vaccinations, especially because you know, we're such a
- 7:56Speaker 1: easy to travel globe right now. Right travel has never
- 8:00Speaker 1: been easier, There's never been more people traveling, I mean
- 8:03Speaker 1: prior to the pandemic. Of course, UM. Globalization continues to
- 8:07Speaker 1: grow and we can continues to get easier and easier
- 8:09Speaker 1: for more and more people to travel UM and so
- 8:13Speaker 1: borders sort of become a thing of the past, especially
- 8:15Speaker 1: when you when you're talking about infectious diseases like COVID
- 8:19Speaker 1: and so sharing vaccines create schobal equity, it creates a
- 8:23Speaker 1: healthier planet, and it also allows us to reopen globally quicker.
- 8:29Speaker 1: I've been sitting here talking to Paul about my travel
- 8:32Speaker 1: plants for the summer, and I'm going to Europe. But
- 8:34Speaker 1: what a place that will let us in if we're vaccinated.
- 8:37Speaker 1: But at the same time, I look over at the
- 8:38Speaker 1: UK where the delta variant cases have tripled. Should that
- 8:43Speaker 1: make me worried even if I'm fully vaccinated. I think
- 8:46Speaker 1: you're going to want to pay attention to what happens
- 8:48Speaker 1: with the sciences that you, you know, you get closer
- 8:51Speaker 1: to your travel. We're hearing that the vaccines are still
- 8:54Speaker 1: very protective UM, and I think we'll see more about
- 8:57Speaker 1: some of these new variants, like the delta variant UM
- 9:00Speaker 1: and how how the vaccines work against them. Vaccine is
- 9:03Speaker 1: going to give you protection. So perhaps you'll get if
- 9:06Speaker 1: you were to get infected, you might get a more
- 9:07Speaker 1: mild illness or have a symptomatic infection. But the vaccines
- 9:10Speaker 1: are protective, and that is a really important point that
- 9:13Speaker 1: you know, when you're considering travel, you need to continue
- 9:15Speaker 1: to remember. And again, the more people that get vaccinated
- 9:18Speaker 1: in those countries, even if they see the variants in
- 9:21Speaker 1: that space, that the protection grows exponentially, you know. So
- 9:26Speaker 1: we see more and more people get vaccinated, we are
- 9:28Speaker 1: more and more protected, Lauren. One of the other big
- 9:32Speaker 1: issues is getting folks back to work. I mean, Kaylee
- 9:35Speaker 1: has been coming she's been here the whole time. This
- 9:37Speaker 1: is my fifth week of coming back. And uh, you know,
- 9:39Speaker 1: we're starting to hear more and more companies, even a
- 9:42Speaker 1: Goldman Saxes requiring employees to report their vaccination status. How
- 9:47Speaker 1: do you think, what do you think it is the
- 9:49Speaker 1: most responsible way for companies or what have you heard
- 9:52Speaker 1: or seeing about bringing people back into the office. Yeah,
- 9:56Speaker 1: I think it's been really mixed. I would love to
- 9:59Speaker 1: see some more BBC guidance and stronger CDC guidance around
- 10:03Speaker 1: office workplaces um and bringing people back I think they've
- 10:06Speaker 1: done a lot of work in the last few months
- 10:08Speaker 1: on various areas that we needed guidance, and I think
- 10:11Speaker 1: the workplaces a place where we could use some more information,
- 10:14Speaker 1: some more you know, guidance as support. I do think
- 10:17Speaker 1: we're going to see more and more places move towards
- 10:19Speaker 1: what Goldman is doing. We're seeing a lot of higher
- 10:22Speaker 1: education institutions doing this, a lot of academic medical centers
- 10:25Speaker 1: doing this. UM. We're seeing more and more places move
- 10:29Speaker 1: towards requiring vaccination to come back UM. And you know,
- 10:34Speaker 1: I think there is arguments to be made on both
- 10:37Speaker 1: sides of of the coin for this. So we're not
- 10:40Speaker 1: we don't have an approved vaccine. We have some really
- 10:43Speaker 1: great emergency use authorization vaccines with tons of clinical data
- 10:47Speaker 1: now that show that they're safe and effective. UM. And
- 10:50Speaker 1: I think we have vaccines moving towards approval. It'll be
- 10:54Speaker 1: easier to require them when once approval happens. But we
- 10:57Speaker 1: have to give sort of space for people to make choices.
- 11:01Speaker 1: I mean, that's that is what you know this country
- 11:03Speaker 1: is built on, is that choice piece and that autonomy,
- 11:06Speaker 1: and so weighing those risks and benefits very carefully along
- 11:09Speaker 1: with the autonomy of individuals and their ability to decide.
- 11:12Speaker 1: It's going to be a really challenging space in the
- 11:14Speaker 1: next few years, and we are gonna look, we're going
- 11:16Speaker 1: to need to look to the CDC and the federal
- 11:18Speaker 1: government to provide guidance in this space, Lauren. A lot
- 11:21Speaker 1: of companies are targeting September for their return to office,
- 11:25Speaker 1: and there isn't so much worry about how the summer
- 11:27Speaker 1: is going to go. People seem pretty optimistic, but then
- 11:29Speaker 1: people talk about what could come in the fall and
- 11:32Speaker 1: the winter. Are we going to have to send people
- 11:34Speaker 1: home again? Yeah, I think it's really the hope that
- 11:38Speaker 1: we don't. Um, It is definitely a possibility. I would say,
- 11:42Speaker 1: we don't know what's going to happen as um. You know,
- 11:44Speaker 1: as we move back into fall, we're still trying to
- 11:47Speaker 1: understand the potential seasonality of this disease, um of this pathogen,
- 11:51Speaker 1: and so looking towards the fall, this will be sort
- 11:53Speaker 1: of our first real experience of what a season might
- 11:56Speaker 1: look like with with a highly vaccinated population. So it's
- 12:00Speaker 1: kind of a wait and see, which I know is
- 12:01Speaker 1: not a particularly satisfying answer. Um, But I think the
- 12:05Speaker 1: hope is that we get enough people vaccinated. Perhaps we've
- 12:08Speaker 1: developed boosters if necessary, um, but we build the foundation
- 12:11Speaker 1: so that we can keep things safely open and and
- 12:15Speaker 1: that is one of the goals of getting more and
- 12:16Speaker 1: more people vaccinated. Lauren, thank you so much for joining
- 12:20Speaker 1: us once again. We always appreciate your weekly uh discussions
- 12:24Speaker 1: with us as we try to get more educated on
- 12:26Speaker 1: this pandemic and on the vaccines and on the reopening.
- 12:29Speaker 1: Lauren sour Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine that JOHNS Hopkins
- 12:32Speaker 1: School of Medicine, and of course the Bloomer School of
- 12:35Speaker 1: Public Health is supported by Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg
- 12:37Speaker 1: LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Alright, folks, on the trading desk
- 12:43Speaker 1: of Wall Street, this is how it works. You get
- 12:45Speaker 1: a trader out there who's making money. He's got a
- 12:47Speaker 1: hot hand, maybe a unique positioning and unique strategy. You
- 12:52Speaker 1: give that trader more capital to make more money for
- 12:55Speaker 1: you less you risk losing that said trader to a
- 12:58Speaker 1: hedge fund where they can gen even more returns. And
- 13:01Speaker 1: that's what Credit Swiss was doing until decided to pull back.
- 13:04Speaker 1: And so again Credit Swiss back in the news, maybe
- 13:07Speaker 1: not for the reasons it likes. Laura Benitez, Leverage finance
- 13:10Speaker 1: markets reporter for Bloomberg, joins us lard give us the
- 13:14Speaker 1: story at what happened at Credit Swiss with one of
- 13:16Speaker 1: its star traders. Well, we tracked the story of HANSA.
- 13:20Speaker 1: Lusinger who wrote to prominence very very quickly from a
- 13:23Speaker 1: very young age. Um. So he started off at the
- 13:26Speaker 1: on the trading desk and the high trading desk out
- 13:28Speaker 1: Credit Swie in London and very quickly was promoted to
- 13:31Speaker 1: head up that desk. Um and actually said I had
- 13:34Speaker 1: a very unique strategy, made a lot of money for
- 13:37Speaker 1: the bank and it was just a very very big
- 13:39Speaker 1: name in the market. Um. It was a very attractive
- 13:42Speaker 1: proposition for others as well, hence why he was sick
- 13:44Speaker 1: to Citadel. But obviously you know, Credits we supported him back. Um.
- 13:48Speaker 1: So there's a bit of a tug of war there
- 13:50Speaker 1: which was quite interesting at the end of last year
- 13:52Speaker 1: and the beginning of this year. However, the tables turned
- 13:55Speaker 1: slightly in the last few months because of the situation
- 13:57Speaker 1: that Credits weee at the moment and all the crisis
- 14:00Speaker 1: they're facing. Um, the patter dial backs and risk and Therefore,
- 14:03Speaker 1: you know, hands a petty basically go alone. Now, would
- 14:07Speaker 1: this have happened had the r K goes blow up
- 14:10Speaker 1: not happened. Um, It's difficult to say, because overall the
- 14:14Speaker 1: strategy at the bank seems to be that they're just
- 14:16Speaker 1: diving back risk across the businesses, especially on the asset
- 14:19Speaker 1: management side. So obviously, you know, the hands of fund
- 14:23Speaker 1: and what he was trading in was in that time
- 14:25Speaker 1: very liquid, very very high risk, and therefore that would
- 14:28Speaker 1: be a fund that would just be deemed too high
- 14:30Speaker 1: risk for the bank to even consider at the momentum.
- 14:33Speaker 1: Would that the other crises developing. It's very hard to
- 14:36Speaker 1: say how that fund would have played out. I mean,
- 14:38Speaker 1: as we nursed my reporting, he was fundraising throughout January
- 14:41Speaker 1: and February UM, and he was poised to launched that
- 14:44Speaker 1: funding March. So UM, it's yeah, it remains to be
- 14:47Speaker 1: seen how that would have gone otherwise. You know, it's
- 14:50Speaker 1: really interesting, Um, Laura. You know again, I used to
- 14:53Speaker 1: work at Credit Swiss and then still know some folks there,
- 14:56Speaker 1: and it just seems like they stumble from from one
- 14:59Speaker 1: issue to the next. Here and now you know we're
- 15:03Speaker 1: seeing some reporting earlier this week about offering retention bonuses
- 15:07Speaker 1: to managing directors as well as some rank and file people.
- 15:10Speaker 1: How difficult, you know, when you look at a story
- 15:13Speaker 1: like you're reporting on here with your team, it must
- 15:15Speaker 1: be very difficult for them to attract talent if they can't,
- 15:19Speaker 1: you know, really reward them and allow their their traitors
- 15:22Speaker 1: to take a certain amount of risk to generate a
- 15:23Speaker 1: certain amount of return. What's going on at credits with
- 15:27Speaker 1: absolutely they're dealing with huge reputational risk right now. And
- 15:30Speaker 1: on one hand, they have to preserve preserved that and
- 15:33Speaker 1: they have to dial back at their risk and make
- 15:34Speaker 1: sure that everything is you know, white and they're white
- 15:37Speaker 1: in terms of their compliance strateges. On the other hand,
- 15:39Speaker 1: like you said, they do have to retain talent. They've
- 15:41Speaker 1: been leaking talent for the last three or four months
- 15:44Speaker 1: and they've been bringing in these retention bonuses to keep
- 15:47Speaker 1: the very top and see new talent in place. UM.
- 15:50Speaker 1: But like you said, it's very very tricky for them
- 15:51Speaker 1: to balance that. I think it is the balancing that
- 15:53Speaker 1: going forward. UM. As we know from the story, Hanson
- 15:56Speaker 1: was able to take on a huge amount of risk.
- 15:58Speaker 1: He was given it up to a hundred million to
- 16:02Speaker 1: trade on and that would that was just way wed.
- 16:05Speaker 1: But what other traders and his peers were doing, um
- 16:08Speaker 1: And therefore, you know, that's one of the reasons why
- 16:11Speaker 1: he was so successful. He had an edge on everyone
- 16:13Speaker 1: else because he was able to take you know, twice
- 16:15Speaker 1: the risk um. So to be able to continue that
- 16:19Speaker 1: performance while also riding back in the riskier parts of
- 16:23Speaker 1: why that happened I think will be very interesting go forward.
- 16:26Speaker 1: So even if he's no longer there to take on
- 16:29Speaker 1: that kind of risk as credits, he's going to allow
- 16:31Speaker 1: allow other traders to do that going forward? Are we
- 16:33Speaker 1: looking at a huge dial back here of the risks
- 16:37Speaker 1: that they're willing to take. It's difficult to say because
- 16:40Speaker 1: they haven't actually communicated anything specifically about this, but it
- 16:44Speaker 1: would be hard to understand I think, you know, if
- 16:48Speaker 1: if that kind of risk appetite was to continue from here,
- 16:51Speaker 1: because like I said, he was the only trader on
- 16:54Speaker 1: you know, especially in Europe and London who was able
- 16:56Speaker 1: to take on that amount of risk. And the last
- 16:59Speaker 1: few months is really I think demonstrated, um, you know,
- 17:02Speaker 1: some of the pitfalls of I mean, even any middlet
- 17:05Speaker 1: of money for the bank, there was also a huge
- 17:06Speaker 1: risk attached and obviously you know there was a lot
- 17:09Speaker 1: of controversy behind some of his techniques too, So um, yes,
- 17:14Speaker 1: I think it's um it's definitely an interesting one going forward. Laura,
- 17:18Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate this story.
- 17:21Speaker 1: It's fascinating, a story about kind of the rise and
- 17:24Speaker 1: somewhat of a fall of a star trader at Credit Swiss,
- 17:27Speaker 1: and it's also a tale of, you know, pulling back
- 17:30Speaker 1: on risk that we're seeing at certain firms, particularly Credit
- 17:34Speaker 1: Swiss again trying to navigate some reputational issues there. La Benita,
- 17:38Speaker 1: she's a leverage finance markets reporter for Bloomberg Editorial based
- 17:42Speaker 1: in London, and you know, it just kind of goes
- 17:44Speaker 1: to that issue. We see it on Wall Street a lot.
- 17:45Speaker 1: You know, a firm takes a hit, whether it's financial reputational,
- 17:49Speaker 1: and they pulled back in on the risk profile on
- 17:52Speaker 1: their trading desks, on some of their investment banking operations
- 17:56Speaker 1: as they try to reassess their risk and their credit.
- 18:02Speaker 1: Looking at the markets again, a little bit of green
- 18:05Speaker 1: on the skate and not much going on, but certainly
- 18:07Speaker 1: we have markets at or near all time highs. And
- 18:11Speaker 1: that's despite some concerns about inflation coming into this market
- 18:16Speaker 1: that may prove a challenge for this economy in this market.
- 18:19Speaker 1: Christopher Wolf, he's a chief investment officer First Republic Private
- 18:22Speaker 1: Wealth Management. They have about two nineteen billion dollars in
- 18:26Speaker 1: assets under management. Christopher joins us. Chris, thanks so much
- 18:29Speaker 1: for joining us here. Love to get your thoughts on
- 18:31Speaker 1: this inflation question, which is certainly an area area of
- 18:35Speaker 1: debate for investors. Is its transitory as FED chairman Power
- 18:40Speaker 1: would suggest, or is it something more that we need
- 18:42Speaker 1: to be concerned about. What do you think? Well, I
- 18:45Speaker 1: think there's a couple of things. Uh. You know, first,
- 18:47Speaker 1: it's really hard to disagree with the FED and all
- 18:49Speaker 1: their pH d economists and how they think about transitory.
- 18:52Speaker 1: I think the market's interpretation of transitory is what's gonna matter.
- 18:56Speaker 1: And I think the narrative is shifting a little bit,
- 18:59Speaker 1: even though the a data to digest in the last
- 19:01Speaker 1: couple of days, and in particular what we saw for
- 19:03Speaker 1: the you know, the five prints on CPI yesterday. UM,
- 19:06Speaker 1: I think the market is going to shift towards defining
- 19:08Speaker 1: how long is transitory? The market started with the narrative
- 19:12Speaker 1: that was transitory means it'll be over in one and
- 19:15Speaker 1: I sent that's going to shift into two. And that's
- 19:18Speaker 1: the problem. If the market thinks that inflation around longer,
- 19:22Speaker 1: you get pressure, um at least from the markets on
- 19:25Speaker 1: should the Fed be acting? And why would I believe that?
- 19:28Speaker 1: Mostly because break evens and inflation expectations for market participants
- 19:32Speaker 1: are a lot higher than where the Fed says. So
- 19:34Speaker 1: that's setting up this dynamic. Yeah, we're looking at something
- 19:37Speaker 1: like two percent on the two year break even. Of
- 19:39Speaker 1: course the shortest term expectation. They're all that said, Should
- 19:42Speaker 1: I be looking at a ten year yield higher than
- 19:44Speaker 1: one point four six percent right now? Uh? You know
- 19:48Speaker 1: in a normal world, yes, you know. You haven't seen
- 19:51Speaker 1: this kind of extreme penalty phase for savers until you
- 19:55Speaker 1: go back to like the seventies and early part of
- 19:57Speaker 1: the eighties, and even then way beyond that in the hundreds.
- 20:00Speaker 1: So why is this important? It's because there's some things
- 20:03Speaker 1: going on that are likely to stay in place. The
- 20:05Speaker 1: first we've talked about with inflation, they should sticky tends
- 20:08Speaker 1: to be around a little bit longer than you want,
- 20:10Speaker 1: and in order to get rid of it, you've got
- 20:11Speaker 1: to do harder things than you thought in the first
- 20:13Speaker 1: place to get rid of it. The second piece, though,
- 20:16Speaker 1: is that there's just a lot of cash around. The
- 20:18Speaker 1: reboil markets are full of it, bank balance sheets are
- 20:20Speaker 1: full of it, and you know what, they buy lots
- 20:22Speaker 1: of treasury. So the idea here is that the excess
- 20:25Speaker 1: cashets and system is going to get put back into
- 20:27Speaker 1: treasury markets. And that's a little disconnected from fundamentals. Normally,
- 20:31Speaker 1: I would say that if you have inflation and economic
- 20:34Speaker 1: growth in the four or five or six range, the
- 20:37Speaker 1: tenor bond should be about that as well. But we're
- 20:39Speaker 1: not going there anytime soon, as long as all this
- 20:41Speaker 1: cash sitting on the sidelines needs to be put back
- 20:44Speaker 1: into the treasury market. So, Chris, you know, a bunch
- 20:47Speaker 1: of my business school buddies and I we were chatting
- 20:49Speaker 1: just recently about our kids. How are they going to
- 20:52Speaker 1: generate the returns on their savings and on their investments
- 20:56Speaker 1: that we've enjoyed since we graduated business school on And
- 21:00Speaker 1: it's really really tough to think of an environment where
- 21:03Speaker 1: they can achieve what we were able to achieve as
- 21:05Speaker 1: we look at our four oh one case. Now, what
- 21:07Speaker 1: are you suggesting to your clients here as a longer
- 21:12Speaker 1: term portfolio construction to generate returns that can support them,
- 21:17Speaker 1: you know, for years. Hence, Yeah, and I'll use that
- 21:21Speaker 1: phrase again. It's the extreme penalty phase for savers globally
- 21:24Speaker 1: um and there's a lot of kind of economic work
- 21:26Speaker 1: that goes into the how do we define, say, an
- 21:28Speaker 1: excess of savings? The economists call it a savings glut
- 21:31Speaker 1: and what happens with that? But I think the simple
- 21:33Speaker 1: answer to your question, Paul is we're gonna need to
- 21:36Speaker 1: be much more thoughtful about how we invest. Savings is
- 21:39Speaker 1: not the path forward, unfortunately, at least for the next
- 21:42Speaker 1: ten years, maybe more. It's going to be more about
- 21:44Speaker 1: investing and choosing how you invest. And from our perspective,
- 21:48Speaker 1: I think the big shift that's underway is, you know,
- 21:51Speaker 1: a stay at home, stay in the US only strategy
- 21:53Speaker 1: has worked well in the last several years, but a
- 21:55Speaker 1: more global strategy is going to be I think more
- 21:58Speaker 1: appropriate for investors over a period of time. That's item
- 22:01Speaker 1: number one. Number two is what's happening, which I think
- 22:04Speaker 1: is a benefit for investors is that private markets are
- 22:06Speaker 1: now mirroring public markets very well. Public equity, private equity,
- 22:10Speaker 1: public credit, private credit, public real estate, private real estate.
- 22:13Speaker 1: You get the picture. There are so many opportunities in
- 22:16Speaker 1: private markets, and they're democratizing reasonably quickly that I think
- 22:20Speaker 1: that opportunity set is going to become much more of
- 22:23Speaker 1: the area that investors are going to explore, and not
- 22:26Speaker 1: just public markets. I think the last piece of this
- 22:28Speaker 1: puzzle is, um, we're gonna look for diversification now to
- 22:32Speaker 1: go beyond just traditional stocks, jns and alternatives. It's going
- 22:35Speaker 1: to be global, it's going to be uh structural, and
- 22:37Speaker 1: that really means that we have to be focused just
- 22:40Speaker 1: to bring this all back on what is it you
- 22:42Speaker 1: want to do over what time period? That's really the key.
- 22:45Speaker 1: What are their goals? So is a sixty forty dead?
- 22:50Speaker 1: You know, I don't think it's dead. I do think
- 22:52Speaker 1: that it has to be augmented. I think the sixty
- 22:55Speaker 1: forty has worked out very well. This is an era
- 22:57Speaker 1: of I think, as Rhinehart and rogue Off called it,
- 23:00Speaker 1: financial repression, that the healthy bas for savers equities tend
- 23:04Speaker 1: to do well in that environment. So we are in
- 23:06Speaker 1: no way abandoning equities, but you're in a position of
- 23:09Speaker 1: strength for many people, and that position of strength is
- 23:11Speaker 1: usually the best time to act. And this action, from
- 23:14Speaker 1: my perspective, looks like being more globally diversified and looking
- 23:17Speaker 1: more at those alternates, more private investments, more things that
- 23:20Speaker 1: are interesting and new, even even things in the cryptocurrency
- 23:23Speaker 1: and blockchains. Baby, yeah, interesting. My kids will be fired
- 23:27Speaker 1: up about that, I know, all right, Christopher, thanks so
- 23:29Speaker 1: much for joining us. Christopher Wolf, He's a chief investment
- 23:31Speaker 1: officer First Republic Private Wealth Management. Again, that discussion, uh
- 23:36Speaker 1: kayleie that I'm having with my kids that are entering
- 23:38Speaker 1: the or have entered the workforce, and I'm telling them
- 23:41Speaker 1: to invest in their for one case max out if
- 23:44Speaker 1: they can think about being, you know, all into stocks
- 23:47Speaker 1: here at their age. Because you look at the fixed
- 23:49Speaker 1: ticle markets, what are you gonna do. You're not gonna
- 23:52Speaker 1: do much. You're not going to You're not gonna do
- 23:54Speaker 1: You're not gonna get much of anything. So again, we
- 23:57Speaker 1: really appreciate Christoper's comments there about you know, how to
- 24:00Speaker 1: to invest for the long term. Thanks for listening to
- 24:03Speaker 1: the Bloomberg Markets podcast. You can subscribe and listen to
- 24:06Speaker 1: interviews of Apple Podcasts or whatever podcast platform you prefer.
- 24:11Speaker 1: I'm Matt Miller. I'm on Twitter at Matt Miller three,
- 24:15Speaker 1: at on Ball Sweeney, I'm on Twitter at pt Sweeney.
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