Month

We were playing the game called Institutional Investor. Winners develop an equation to produce +7.5% returns in perpetuity. All other players declare insolvency. Beginners play backwards through time, everyone wins, participation trophies abound. They simply average long-term historical equity and bond returns, combine them in any ratio, and can’t help but hit +7.5%. The advanced game is played in real time, requirin

Hope all goes well… “If I were one of the football players, I’d have been sad,” said Charlie (10), staring out the window, driving home from the Harvard/Yale game. Eco activists took the field at half-time, and 30mins later we left. “If I were a protester, I’d be happy, because they obviously care about the environment and so many other students joined them, lots of kids too, it was pretty cool,” he said. A core grou

Avoiding RMB: Goldman sold a 4% stake in Taikang Life. Allianz paid them 800mm euros, valuing Taikang at E20bln. Goldman bought its Taikang stake in 2010 from AXA at a E7bln valuation. AXA inherited Taikang in its 2006 acquisition of Swiss insurer Winterthur (Credit Suisse subsidiary). Winterthur bought its Taikang stake in 2000 alongside Softbank and GSIC. The buyers/sellers have flipped Taikang shares in dollars/eu

Hope all goes well… “My team stopped using WhatsApp,” he said. “Started communicating on Telegram – messages disappear,” he said. “Burner phones are the most secure.” We were discussing HK. I forwarded some tweets from @HuXijin_GT, my source for insight into how Beijing wants to portray the protests. Video clips show thugs beating a young woman, a cop under siege fires point blank in legitimate self-defense, a middle

A“We move slowly here,” said the executive, chain smoking Seven Stars. “We have refined the art of flawless production,” he explained. “But there was a time when it was not so.” Two Asahi Extra Dry’s arrived, the thick foam head in each glass identical, poured deliberately, in perfect proportion, beautiful beer. “We once copied the chemical compounds designed in America,” he admitted. “As we amassed knowledge, we dev

Hope all goes well… “A few of you came consistently, year after year, even before Abenomics,” he said, seated high in a tower, sipping green tea, fine porcelain. I sat with my back to Tokyo’s skyline, a mahogany table stretched right and left, the two of us alone. “But most of you came when markets started moving, policy was in flux.” He pushed a single sheet across the table – a chart of foreigner’s net positi

Hope all goes well… “Guess what this weekend is Dad?” asked my kids Saturday morning as I headed upstairs to write. Sounded important. I panicked, wondering whose birthday I spaced, what anniversary I missed, these things have never been my strong suit. “Our school has a no-homework weekend,” they said, excited. And fresh back from Tokyo, in need of a break myself, a little time to reconnect with my crew, I took the