tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4815867514277794362.post4735442946916673299..comments2024-03-08T06:18:28.125+11:00Comments on Bronte Capital: Poor Charlie's CounterattackJohn Hemptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766274392122783128noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4815867514277794362.post-90402477780528621242015-10-22T07:19:10.316+11:002015-10-22T07:19:10.316+11:00"You keep hating. Stock keeps working."
..."You keep hating. Stock keeps working."<br /><br />Ah, irony. [P.S. - Munger is right again. Long(er) live Munger.]Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4815867514277794362.post-11672722188832869602015-05-15T04:18:14.728+10:002015-05-15T04:18:14.728+10:00When Ackman is asked about how is Valeant a value ...When Ackman is asked about how is Valeant a value play - he says Mike is a terrific guy who's compensation size is based solely on VRX stock appreciation over 5yr periods. One of those 5yr periods just expired and he's stock award was worth a nice $2bn... <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4815867514277794362.post-79972406497023223332015-04-16T14:19:39.438+10:002015-04-16T14:19:39.438+10:00Had a good look at these guys 18 months ago. Disas...Had a good look at these guys 18 months ago. Disaster waiting to happen.<br /><br />More recently, got an opportunity to chat with someone who used to run a pharma company that VRX pursued, but he ultimately sold to someone else (apologies, but I feel the need to be vague here).<br /><br />I asked him why he turned down Valeant and he had a lot of really nasty things to say about Pearson & Co.WellRednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4815867514277794362.post-37048057432799852012015-04-14T00:41:40.898+10:002015-04-14T00:41:40.898+10:00Hi John,
As a novice investor I would like to kno...Hi John,<br /><br />As a novice investor I would like to know if you would include in the same basket all these other private equity like stocks that are trading at high multiples : Transdigm, Danaher,Constellation software, Colfax, Platform Specialty products (this one also supported by Ackman & friends)... Some of these companies seem to use the same power point slide in their presentation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4815867514277794362.post-8280039400395048492015-04-05T03:21:19.737+10:002015-04-05T03:21:19.737+10:00I wonder what did Munger mean when he said "o...I wonder what did Munger mean when he said "only this time the guy is worse?"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4815867514277794362.post-6881720111435894852015-04-02T00:19:52.356+11:002015-04-02T00:19:52.356+11:00I'm old enough to remember Riklis, Bluhdorn, L...I'm old enough to remember Riklis, Bluhdorn, Ling, Geneen and others who engaged in M&A tomfoolery long enough to burn a lot of investors. So, when I first focused in on Valeant a couple of years ago and digested its "MO", I felt transported back to the 60s. The one thing that confounded me was the number of what I regarded to be sober minded, value based fund managers buying up Valeant like it was guaranteed alpha. Chilling, really.former sechttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05081486162352222055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4815867514277794362.post-64217868793387637402015-04-01T23:25:02.154+11:002015-04-01T23:25:02.154+11:00You keep hating. Stock keeps working.You keep hating. Stock keeps working.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4815867514277794362.post-11827561515103567212015-04-01T12:12:02.553+11:002015-04-01T12:12:02.553+11:00Where did you find the Munger's transcript?Where did you find the Munger's transcript?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4815867514277794362.post-54327442845231187362015-04-01T12:03:37.602+11:002015-04-01T12:03:37.602+11:00John,
I met a senior marketing person on the week...John,<br /><br />I met a senior marketing person on the weekend who works for one of Valeant's subsidiary companies here in Sydney. This person divulged that in order to meet their KPI's, Australian executives must spend at least 2 days per week on M&A activities! Running their businesses in the old fashioned way comes second apparently. <br /><br />Furthermore, if the operating numbers aren't looking too sharp they just push some of their normal opex into the one-off acquisition-related cost line.<br /><br />None of this is particularly new for VRX at a global level, but I was slightly surprised to see that it is happening at a micro level in Australia.Richienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4815867514277794362.post-80844794647547971582015-04-01T11:20:39.296+11:002015-04-01T11:20:39.296+11:00Hey John, Is there a book on ITT that doesn't ...Hey John, Is there a book on ITT that doesn't involve left-winged conspiracy theories? Was that even critical to ITT's business under Geneen?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4815867514277794362.post-40272517558096084902015-04-01T06:53:01.986+11:002015-04-01T06:53:01.986+11:00Geneen went on a buying spree for a reason. Many ...Geneen went on a buying spree for a reason. Many of ITT's best assets were overseas - and several governments threatened or actually nationalized them (including France, Brazil, Chile etc.). So he wanted onshore assets fast. I don't think he actually believed all the talk about how efficient conglomerates are - my guess is Geneen just used this as a smokescreen to justify the purchases.<br /><br />Valeant has no such justification. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com