Money Maze Podcast

• 172: Heroes or Villains? The Shrinking World of Shorting - With Carson Block, Founder of Muddy Waters

  Economic theory suggests that when competition decreases, remaining firms may have more market power, which can lead to increased opportunities to expand, innovate, or capture a larger market share. Does that analogy apply to the world of shorting? And even if you are considered one of the best in the business, can you stay afloat with a rising tide of bullishness and asset inflation? To discuss what’s changed and where might the opportunities lie, we welcome back Carson Block, who first appeared in September 2021. He discusses sourcing ideas and the warning signs and characteristics of companies they typically like to short along with examples of companies that meet their criteria. He discusses if AI can assist in screening for pattern recognition in potential candidates. He then reflects on the resilience needed to survive bull markets and hostile adversaries, and just as short-sellers leave the field, what may lie ahead! Recorded January 2025.  ​​The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders, IFM Investors, World Gold Council and LSEG. Sign up to our Newsletter | Follow us on LinkedIn | Watch on YouTube

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• 171: From Triumph to Trauma: The Dramatic Investment Arc of Neil Woodford, Founder of Woodford Investment Management

  Some of our conversations are deliberately different, and the man I interview here has cost me a lot of money! I also consider him a friend and somebody whose perspective I have valued.   It could be said that Neil Woodford, CBE, has had a career of two halves, the first of which encompassed extraordinary investment success at Invesco Perpetual and then at Woodford Investment Management (2014-2019).   At its peak, Woodford’s business managed £15bn and was backed by Hargreaves Lansdowne and St. James’s Place. Its clients included Kent County Council’s pension fund, a range of wealth management firms and 300,000+ retail investors.   Yet in 2019 the fund was suspended and then liquidated, following a shift in asset allocation from blue-chip public equities to illiquid, unlisted companies (he denies this was the cause of the collapse in this discussion). In the run up to the collapse, he experienced approximately £7bn of outflows.   Using an investment lens, here we try to examine and understand what went right, what went wrong and now what may lie ahead.   Neil remains under investigation by the UK Financial Conduct Authority at the time of this interview (March 2025).  ​​The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders, World Gold Council, LSEG and IFM Investors.  Sign up to our Newsletter | Follow us on LinkedIn | Watch on YouTube  

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• 170: The Irreversible Convergence of Public & Private Markets – With Scott Kleinman, Co-President of Apollo Asset Management

  In the world of mythology, Apollo is one the most revered and significant of all the ancient Greek and Roman Gods.  It was also the name given to an asset management business created in 1990 and today with assets of over $750 billion*, it’s a leading provider of alternative asset management and retirement solutions.   In this conversation we understand Apollo’s growth, reach and specialisations. More importantly we discuss the convergence of the public and private asset management industries, where the accelerating marriage of alternatives and traditional assets appears irreversible. From institutional portfolios, now expanding into individual allocations, the trend appears early in its evolution.  Scott Kleinman, Co-President of Apollo Asset Management, reviews the liquidity aspects implied by this phenomenon. He discusses the role of banks, where regulation has allowed the growth of non-bank enterprises like Apollo to blossom, and the trade-offs, risk, reward and liquidity, investors will make.  He also describes opportunities and challenges, outside of the US where capital is less abundant, and securitisation malfunctioning. Finally, Scott offers some great advice to youth that “you can’t escape hard work” and “you should never stop asking why?!”  The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders, IFM Investors, World Gold Council and LSEG.  Sign up to our Newsletter | Follow us on LinkedIn | Watch on YouTube | As of 31st December 2024 

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• 169: Unlocking Investment Wisdom - With Howard Marks, Co-Founder of Oaktree Capital Management

  When Warren Buffet singles you out for praise, it might be fair to say you have summited the investment equivalent of K2, Annapurna and Kangchenjunga, the most challenging of mountain peaks!   In a capricious investing world, where success is often transient, reputations easily tarnished and hubris punished, to have not only stayed the course for 55 years, but thrived, built Oaktree Capital into one of the largest investors in distressed securities worldwide and cemented a vast loyal following is extraordinary. His investment memos written over the years are world class: engaging, lucid and approachable. In this 1 hour conversation, Howard Marks shares some of his most important investing lessons. It’s a conversation everyone interested in investing should hear. Howard explains, why it’s not what you buy, it’s what you pay that counts, why you need to be contrarian to succeed in investing, why over confidence is the enemy of performance, and  - given the inevitable nature of cycles - why he subscribes to Voltaire’s comment that “history never repeats itself, but man always does”. And that is before he discusses the role of luck, the future of the US, the “illusion of knowledge”, and much more with one of the investment greats! ​​The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders, World Gold Council, LSEG and IFM Investors. Sign up to our Newsletter | Follow us on LinkedIn | Watch on YouTube 

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• 168: From Rare Earths to Broader Metals: Investment Opportunities & Strategic Priorities for the West

  In this episode we’ve been very fortunate to find someone who ranks amongst the most qualified anywhere in the world to discuss this topic. He was the former CFO of Billiton, then as CEO, built Xstrata into one of the world’s largest diversified mining companies, helping grow their market value from US$500m to US$60bn, at one point employing over 90,000 people. In this conversation we examine the most important supply and demand mismatches of critical materials. We assess the energy transition, discuss where the opportunities and challenges lie, what Vision Blue Resources is seeking to build, and how investors are positioned. We expand the conversation to discuss valuation opportunities in the wider commodity space, geopolitical hotspots and their implications for commodity prices.  Mick also talks about effective management, building optionality into your business and why investors misunderstand how mining companies frequently demonstrate much better governance and responsibility than standard thinking suggests. ​​The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders, IFM Investors, World Gold Council and LSEG. Sign up to our Newsletter | Follow us on LinkedIn | Watch on YouTube

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