TIP582: Quality & Defensive Investing w/ Christian Billinger

Clay Finck is joined by Christian Billinger to discuss his quality investing philosophy. Christian is chairman of Billinger Förvaltnings AB, which invests in publicly listed equities. The firm seeks to generate attractive long-term total returns in real terms without employing financial leverage. Christian previously covered European equities for Cheyne Capital, Gartmore, and GAM in London.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN: 00:00 - Intro 01:39 - What quality investing is and why it works. 04:20 - How Christian assesses the reinvestment rate for a business and a company’s runway. 10:27 - Why soul in the game is more important than skin in the game. 12:58 - Qualities to look for to find operating managers with soul in the game. 19:16 - Why Christian prefers investing in family-owned public equities. 21:59 - Why he highly prioritizes removing the risk of losing money. 25:48 - What differentiates Christian’s current holdings from companies on his watchlist. 31:44 - What Christian learned from working with institutional investors. 41:36 - What stands out to Christian about Markel. 46:37 - Why Tom Gayner is an investor and business manager worth studying. 47:46 - How the investment outlook between Berkshire and Markel differ. 49:42 - Why Christian’s fund is heavily invested in the spirits industry, and what has led to the recent underperformance in 2023.

Disclaimer: Slight discrepancies in the timestamps may occur due to podcast platform differences.

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Christian’s investment firm.

Related Episode: WSB566: The Passionate Pursuit of Lifelong Learning w/ Gautam Baid or watch the video here.

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