The failure of Silicon Valley Bank, left many wondering about the safety of their savings. As we record this, the government’s actions appear to have won a reprieve in the banking panic. Is the government fix a finger in the dam holding back a flood of public mistrust of banks or will events spread across the financial industry to include other regional banks and even traditional custodians such as Charles Schwab? What caused this crisis to begin with? Will we see other bank failures? Is my m...
The slow rolling legalization of cannabis in the United States is providing an interesting investment opportunity. Since Covid, cannabis sales are up tremendously. The legal industry is growing as more states legalize medicinal and/or recreational use. As large, licensed multiple state cannabis operations grow, they are increasingly cashflow positive. All of this despite having no access to the US banking system and paying a particularly high effective tax rate – frequently north of 70%. ...
One area that seems to be overlooked in the energy transition is nuclear energy. This is an existing zero-emission technology that currently provides over 18% of electrical capacity in the US. At the most recent COP 28 gathering of nations to address global climate change, a declaration was signed to triple nuclear capacity by 2050. This is a really big deal. We’ve invited Jay Surina, Managing Partner at Pelican Energy to educate us on the current state of nuclear energy. What Jay has t...
Scott Wallace was the very first guest on the Biltmore View Podcast. And now he’s our first guest to be on the podcast three times. There’s good reason for that. Scott is not only a great stock picker, he’s also an insightful thinker. On this podcast, we talk about why history is not necessary an accurate measure for our current situation: while we had inflation in the 70’s, they may not be the right comparison our current inflation outbreak and the early 2000’s really weren’t the same as tod...
Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Jon Dorfman, Chief Investment Officer of Napier Park Global Capital. Jon co-founded Napier Park when the firm separated from Citigroup’s alternative investment arm in 2013. Today, Napier Park has approximately $19b assets under management with a highly institutional client base. In this interview, Jon explains how contingent capital structures can provide an investment edge in times of distress. Jon Dorfman is one of the smartest people in the ...
My guest today is Chris Teryazos. Chris is the President of Aetos Capital, a family office owned investment firm focused on generating outsized returns through niche ideas. Their latest great idea is California Carbon Allowances (CCA's). The Biltmore team spent the past several years researching and understanding California’s Cap-and-Trade program. Investors in CCA's are speculating that the price of carbon will increase as regulators reduce emissions. As you’ll hear in this conversation, Chr...
Today's guest Marc Singer has over 25 years in venture capital. He is currently a Managing Partner at Osage University Partners, where he is responsible for overseeing and approving all partnership investments. In this conversation, Marc and I will dig in to the venture and university research world together. We’ll try to understand the particular innovations developed out of research universities. And, most importantly, how as investors, we can profit from the companies commercia...
If you really want to know what’s going on in the world of finance, talk to an expert in Emerging Market Debt. Emerging markets tend to represent the marginal risk capital in an allocation. It’s dependent on global liquidity and can serve as the canary in the coalmine of economic cycles. Like any debt strategy, rates and credit are really important. But here – we layer on the willingness of a country to pay. And you could always end up paid back in a depreciated currency. Bottom line, there’s...
Scott Wallace was the very first guest on the Biltmore View Podcast in March 2020. There’s good reason for that. Our team at Biltmore considers Scott to be a great investment mind. Within weeks of our first conversation, though, a global pandemic broke out. This proved to be a pretty big deal. Now that things have calmed down a bit, we’re checking in once again with Scott. This time, Scott provides his particular insight on inflation, supply chains, Warren Buffett, and even Cathy Wood. I thin...
Merger Arbitrage. Arbs were once the scourge of Wall Street. Swaggering titans of trading full of insider information and pinstriped suits. Today, merger arbitrage is back as an interesting strategy. While we don't have Gordon Gekko, we do have Nancy Oh. Nancy is Portfolio Manager at One68 Global, a niche arbitrage fund, focused on merger and index arbitrage. A marathon runner in her spare time, Nancy exhibits the same tenacity and discipline in her trading. Nancy breaks down arb...
As we talk to clients, one question seems to come up again and again… what is going on with home prices? When looking for answers to questions about US housing, my brother Todd Gorelick, is my go to source. Todd spends his days managing Gorelick Brothers Capital and Goal Properties. The business is one of the countries largest independent owners and operators of single family rental in the country. On this podcast, Todd will share with us his thoughts on single family rental as ...
Blockchain, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, NFT's - Darsh Singh, Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager at Hazoor Capital, covers it all. For those looking to learn more about this emerging sector of the investment universe, Darsh provides an in depth and thoughtful perspective. Bitcoin skeptic, crytpo-believer, or undecided this podcast has something for everyone. We dive straight into the future and philosophy of bitcoin - How valuable is digital scarcity and why use that innovation on a currency? If b...
James Kelly, Managing Director, Greywolf Capital. While Greywolf is known for distressed, event driven & CLO strategies, they also have a core expertise in hard assets such as container ships. James takes us through the history of the container ship industry. He breaks down the global container fleet by ship type. James explains ESG standards of today's institutional investors may be responsible for a supply / demand disconnect in global shipping. We go into the impacts of COVID-19...
Charlie Carnegie, Portfolio Manager, Context. While Context is known as a convertible arbitrage manager, they've been investing in SPACs for over 15 years. Charlie explains Special Purpose Acquisition Corporations (SPACs). We get into the structure of the vehicle and how they work for investors. Charlie explains why SPAC investors are like savvy New York nightclub VIP's avoiding the lines out front and accessing the party through the backdoor. After many years in the underbelly of Wall...
Burl East, CEO American Asset Capital Advisers - The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on various real estate sectors - How "office" as a real estate sector is the new retail. - A bleak future for Class B Manhattan and San Francisco office space - What is the impact on lenders? - Is there a distressed investment opportunity? This podcast was recorded on January, 20th, 2021. The respective opinions expressed are those of Mr. Mahon and the Biltmore Family Office, LLC investment tea...
Ryan Mahon, Portfolio Manager at Ibex Investors discusses: - The continuum of mobility: internal combustion engine to mobile living room. - The difference between Waymo and Telsa - How far off is the future of autonomous mobility (are we there now)? - Where is the US in the global race for autonomous driving? - What's the future of the mobility - subscription or ownership? - Our heads explode as we go down the second derivative impact of driverless cars - why Ryan is advising his brother to ...
Jeff Bacon, Partner at Savitsky, Satin, Bacon & Bucci, one of Hollywood's leading business management firms, explains what business managers do (1:15), explains the birth of the industry (4:30), talks about the challenges of budgeting for actors and athletes (6:00), how to say "no" to clients (8:30), the changing economic landscape of the entertainment industry (13:00), the impact of Covid-19 on incomes (16:30), referrals and trusted advisors (19:00), what exactly are "agents?" (22:00), a...
Brian Landrum, Senior Managing Director at Harbert Management Corp digs in to the impact of Covid-19 on the Senior Housing business. We discuss current and future investment opportunities around senior housing. This podcast was recorded on June 4th, 2020. The respective opinions expressed are those of Mr. Litt and the Biltmore Family Office, LLC investment team. The opinions referenced are as of the date of this podcast and are subject to change without notice. This materi...
Jonathan Litt, Founder & CIO of Land and Buildings digs in to the impact of Covid-19 on commercial real estate (1:45), the collapse of co-working (4:00), broad adoption of work-from-home (5:30), not all retail will disappear (7:30), what sectors provide the growth engine for real estate (10:00), the impact of millennials moving back to the suburbs (13:00), the next major revaluation in commercial real estate (15:00), why public REITs are cheap (18:00), shifts in hospitality (21:30). We fi...
Larry Mestel, Founder & CEO of Primary Wave discusses why music rights are a compelling asset class (3:00), why artists would sell their rights (6:00), reviews some examples of creative tactics to build the revenue stream from legacy artists (8:00), Bob Marley, Whitney Houston, Prince - what makes a musical icon and legend (13:00), shoes, lottery tickets, & a new holiday - how Primary Wave adds value to their partner artists (15:30), how streaming saved the music industry (21:00), how...