Will Thomson stops by The Business Brew to discuss his approach to real asset investing. Will focuses on companies that happen to produce commodities and/or real assets. That said, he is looking to exploit company/project specific opportunities rather than making commodity calls. In this episode, he describes hi s process and explains how an investor could use publicly disclosed information to see a company's business plan (See: a 4301 document in Canada).

Will is the Founder and Managing Partner of Massif Capital, LLC.

He has experience in private equity and credit/political risk insurance, in addition to having served as a strategic and economic adviser to NATO/ISAF in Afghanistan. Before starting Massif Capital, Will worked in the New York office of Chaucer, a Lloyd’s of London insurance syndicate, serving as the co-portfolio manager for a $750 million portfolio of credit and political risk insurance policies. He is a Graduate of Trinity College and holds a Masters in Government from Harvard University.

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Detailed Show Notes:

5:00 - Will's take on oil

8:00 - What is the Lassonde Curve

11:38 - How a filing can help an investor underwrite mining companies.

14:00 - How Will thinks of comparing his DCF to market prices

15:00 - Will discusses how he thinks about investing

19:50 - How will thinks about placing commodity bets on equities

22:00 - The risk reward of majors vs minors in mining

27:50 - "Are you buying well or are you buying good things?"

31:00 - A discussion about Lithium Americas

36:10 - Don't fall in love with the assets

40:33 - The difference between processed commodities and depleting commodities and what it means for margins

45:14 - Some Inflation Reduction Act discussion

51:00 - Sometimes change creates opportunities in the things that don't change

1:05:00 - Chesterson's fence and then discussion

S5 Ep. 33: The Politics of Craft: Charles Baxter on How His Essays on Writing Respond to a Changing World