William Butler Yeats, the great poet, observed, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” It may be easy to agree that education is the passport to a better future, but in this episode we wanted to discuss how we should be thinking about education today and tomorrow, and are we failing? Our guest, Sir Anthony Seldon, is recognised as one of the most distinguished and respected figures in the world of education. He’s a headmaster who has led some of the UK's leading independent schools, including Wellington College, Brighton College and (now) Epsom College. He is also the former Vice Chancellor of Buckingham University and author of over 40 books, including his masterpiece “The Impossible Office”, which examines the lives of 55 British Prime Ministers. Alongside this, Anthony is Deputy Chair of the Times Education Commission. We discuss how to define a good education, how AI will influence both teaching and learning; and whether the cost versus benefit of school and university education represents a good return on investment, including whether Tony Blair was simply wrong in his desire to have 50% of the UK population attend university.  Anthony discusses effecting change and assessing great leadership, drawing on his examination of 55 Prime Ministers. Perhaps most important of all, he discusses how to live a better life and why grades alone shouldn’t define intelligence.  Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn | Watch us on Youtube The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders,  Bremont Watches and LiveTrade.

In this conversation with David Neal, CEO of IFM Investors, we explore the origins of this highly unusual institution, an ‘investor-owned global investment manager’. Set up around 30 years ago to invest on behalf of more than 600 like minded institutions worldwide, it now manages approximately $143 billion (USD, as of 30/06/23).  David discusses what he believes makes for an effective CIO, lessons he drew from being CEO at the Australian Future Fund and why IFM was born. He explains their mission before detailing their highly successful approach to infrastructure investing. He also covers their private debt strategy, and why the balance in private equity between owners and investors may be less than optimal. He also shares his thoughts on portfolio diversification, and lessons learned from his early days at WTW. Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn | Watch us on Youtube The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders,  Bremont Watches, and LiveTrade. We’re pleased to also be supporting GAIN as our 2023 Charitable Partner!

In this episode of our Private Markets Miniseries, we explore a French firm, whose growth has now firmly established it as a major force in the global alternatives industry. Started in 2004 in Paris by Mathieu Chabran and Antoine Flamarion, then aged 28 and 31 respectively, with €4m of assets compiled from personal savings, friends and family, today it manages over €40 billion.  Mathieu explains their motivation to leave leading investment banks to build a business specialising in private credit, private equity, real assets, and capital markets strategies. He discusses their first deal and their approach to the partners with whom they invest (such as TotalEnergies, Unilever and Airbus). Mathieu also discusses their equity partners, which includes Temasek, Morgan Stanley and most recently, SFI Investments (the investment vehicle which manages the wealth of the family behind AB InBev). In a wide-ranging conversation, Mathieu explains the important of committing their own capital to their transactions, the compelling opportunities in Europe’s mid-market, capital allocation, sustaining an entrepreneurial culture and why a firm specialising in private assets choses to list as a public entity.  Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn | Watch us on Youtube The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders,  Bremont Watches and LiveTrade. We’re also pleased to be highlighting & supporting GAIN as our 2023 Charitable Partner. 

In this conversation we discuss both the changing nature of demand for alternative assets as well as their supply. Matt explains how CAIS is creating the bridge between the alternative investment firms and the wealth management community, whose portfolio allocations to these investments are a fraction of their institutional counterparts. Matt discusses the size of the market opportunity, how technology is enabling this rapid transition, and helping solve the problem of unequal access to alternatives. He talks about branding within this space, competition, regulation and how Mercers are providing core due diligence to introduce independence to the arena. The discussion then moves to how investors are re-appraising the traditional 60/40 allocation to bonds and stocks, to incorporate a wider portfolio including alternative investments. Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn | Watch us on Youtube The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders,  Bremont Watches, and LiveTrade. We’re also pleased to be highlighting & supporting GAIN as our 2023 Charitable Partner.  RELATED IN-PERSON EVENT: On 16th-18th October, CAIS will be hosting its second annual  Alternative Investment Summit in Los Angeles, at the Beverly Hilton.  The event will attract over 500 independent financial advisors, along with some of the biggest names across alternative asset management, including Apollo, Ares, Carlyle, Franklin Templeton, Partners Group.

In the world of alternative assets, TPG almost needs no introduction. Founded in 1992 by Jim Coulter and David Bonderman, today they manage a towering $139bn in alternative assets (as of 30/06/23). Less well-known is their significant push into backing and investing in the next generation of underrepresented alternative asset managers.   In this conversation, Pamela Pavkov (Partner & Head of TPG NEXT) and Anilu Vazquez-Ubarri (COO), discuss the opportunity to invest with and address what CEO John Winkelried highlights as “the lack of diverse people sitting in the capital allocation seat.”  TPG, along with CalPERS (who are providing $500m of financing), are deploying new capital in an area they believe offers significant potential returns, via their new TPG NEXT unit.  Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn | Watch us on Youtube The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders,  Bremont Watches, and LiveTrade. We’re also pleased to be highlighting & supporting GAIN as our 2023 Charitable Partner. 

Just as the Nasdaq was launched in 1971 to automate the market for securities which were not exchange-listed, so in 2013 the Nasdaq Private Market was created to help solve private company liquidity. Tom discusses how the introduction of the JOBS Act during Obama’s reign accelerated the need to have a market place for buyers and sellers to meet, as well as supporting price discovery & settlement.  Tom explains their growth, rationale, technology and trajectory and why they were spun off in 2021 . He discusses their cornerstone investors and how employees of private companies to early VC backers stand to gain from increased transparency and liquidity. Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders,  Bremont Watches, and LiveTrade. We’re pleased to also be supporting GAIN as our 2023 Charitable Partner! DISCLAIMER: NASDAQ PRIVATE MARKET, LLC IS NOT A REGISTERED EXCHANGE UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934. NASDAQ PRIVATE MARKET IS OPERATIONALLY INDEPENDENT AND DISTINCT FROM THE NASDAQ STOCK MARKET LLC. SECURITIES-RELATED SERVICES ARE OFFERED THROUGH NPM SECURITIES, LLC, A MEMBER OF FINRA AND SIPC. NONE OF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED REPRESENTS AN OFFER TO BUY OR SELL, OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY OR SELL, ANY SECURITY, NOR DOES IT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO PROVIDE INVESTMENT ADVICE OR SERVICE. INVESTING IN PRIVATE COMPANY SECURITIES IS NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL INVESTORS. IT IS HIGHLY SPECULATIVE AND INVOLVES A HIGH DEGREE OF RISK.

We are delighted to welcome KKR, and its Co-Head of European Private Equity, Philipp Freise, onto the show. Philipp discusses his wide and impressive education, his journey through management consulting at McKinsey, and a dotcom adventure as an entrepreneur, before joining KKR over 20 years ago. KKR today is a leading global investment firm with $510 billion of assets (as of 31/03/23), invested across multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, infrastructure, real estate and credit. The conversation begins with Philipp deciphering the European paradox posed to him; namely reconciling European economic sclerosis, political dissension, energy disruption, and one-size-fits-all monetary policy, with his statement that it’s “never been more interesting to invest in Europe”. He answers emphatically that entrepreneurial capital is needed in Europe, and why private equity offers that. He explains that with the preponderance of privately owned companies in Europe, public markets do not offer the core of the solution. He provides specific examples of companies in which they have invested, from e-biking to supply chain software solutions, and why attitudes to private equity in Europe have changed dramatically over the last twenty years. He discusses KKR’s track record, the imperative for portfolio diversification, their thematic and sector priorities and why private equity is woven into the fabric of business today (an observation not always understood). Originally recorded in August 2022. Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn  The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders, Bremont Watches,  and LiveTrade. We’re also pleased to be highlighting & supporting  GAIN as our 2023 Charitable Partner.

This podcast highlights the first season's episodes and guests, including discussions on alternative assets, branding & consumer behavior, geographical and sector considerations, high profile acquisitions like CD&R's £7bn takeover of Morrisons and Permira's £300m buyout of Dr. Martens. The upcoming season 2 of Private Markets is introduced. The chapters explore topics such as successful investments in private markets, growth of alternative assets supported by Peters Hill Partners, structural changes in private markets, opportunities for private equity investment in European capital markets, sponsors Bremont and Gain, emotional connection in building strong brands, and the private equity market in India and its growth potential.

We last spoke about gold on the show 3 years ago, with Evy Hambro, who runs the BlackRock natural resources team. The discussion highlighted that paper currencies have a 100% track record of losing purchasing power, whereas gold has a 100% record of permanence. In this conversation, we ask Randy Smallwood to address several important issues around gold. His perspectives on supply and demand, lessons from history, current central bank actions and why he recently observed that “gold is in a perfect position right now”. We then discuss currency debasement, gold’s role in portfolios, and how to own and access it, as well as the potential for tokenisation. Randy then discusses the investment parameters around mining stocks and how streaming companies such as Wheaton Precious Metals where he is CEO, offer a different way of investing in the gold universe. Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders,  Bremont Watches, and LiveTrade. We’re also pleased to be highlighting & supporting GAIN as our 2023 Charitable Partner. 

In the third and final episode of our 'July With Jen Series', guest hosted by Jen Prosek, we welcome Mike Pompeo onto the show. Mike is the only man to ever have served as both the US Secretary of State (2018-21) and CIA Director (2017-18). In this episode, Mike and Jen have a riveting conversation, discussing a range of key geopolitical topics, such as; US-China relations, what to expect from the Ukraine/Russia conflict in light of the recent mutiny, and his hopes for the future of the United States. He goes on to defend the recent history of US interventionism in the Middle East  - suggesting that it was underpinned by just intentions - before explaining how his experience in business prior to politics helped him truly understand the USA's unique economic advantages. In addition, Mike discusses how his faith has impacted his outlook on the world, why he preferred working as Director of the CIA over being the Secretary of State under Trump, and how the US media should focus on policy - not just personalities - in its election coverage.  Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders,  Bremont Watches, and LiveTrade. We’re also pleased to be highlighting & supporting GAIN as our 2023 Charitable Partner.