Amit Wadhwaney - From Montreal to Moerus: Amit Wadhwaney’s Deep Value Discipline
Release Date: 10/24/2025
Ricky Sandler - Investing Through Perception Shifts and Market Cycles
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Amit Wadhwaney - From Montreal to Moerus: Amit Wadhwaney’s Deep Value Discipline
Value Investing with Legends
Amit Wadhwaney, founding partner and portfolio manager at Moerus Capital Management, joins hosts Tano Santos and Michael Mauboussin to trace his unorthodox journey from Bombay to Concordia to founding a value investing firm focused on the balance sheet. Along the way, he discusses his early exposure to Marty Whitman, lessons from Third Avenue’s international expansion, and what led him to start Moerus. Amit outlines the core of his investment approach—asset-based valuation, downside protection, and long-term holding periods—and explains why macro factors are typically...
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Bill Ackman - Evolving Investment Playbook, From MBIA to Moats
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Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, joins hosts Michael Mauboussin and Tano Santos to trace the arc of his investing journey—from his early days in real estate finance to founding Gotham Partners and eventually building Pershing Square into a $30 billion firm. Bill discusses formative moments that shaped his thinking, including his controversial early short of MBIA, the painful lessons of the Valeant episode, and the transformation brought about by adopting a permanent capital structure. He also unpacks his investment philosophy, the importance of durability...
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Kristin Gilbertson - Risk, Resilience, and Returns
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In this episode, hosts Tano Santos and Michael Mauboussin speak with Kristin Gilbertson, CIO of Access Industries and former CIO of the University of Pennsylvania Endowment. Kristin shares her early interest in economic development and her unique journey through the World Bank, Stanford Management Company, and into managing a major university endowment. She outlines how risk awareness and preparation helped her successfully lead through the 2008 financial crisis and gives detailed insights into asset allocation, manager selection, and the nuances of family office investing. Kristin also...
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Seth Klarman - Contrarian Investing, Discipline, and Building Baupost
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In this episode, host Michael Mauboussin sits down with Seth Klarman, CEO and portfolio manager of The Baupost Group. One of the most influential practitioners of value investing, Seth shares his formative stories — from arbitraging coins as a kid to launching Baupost in 1982 — and reflects on his decades-long investment philosophy. They explore timeless principles of market inefficiencies, the importance of temperament, specialization versus generalization, the role of patient capital, and the challenges and opportunities ahead for investors in today’s world. Seth also opens up about...
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Cliff Asness — Quant Origins, Value Crashes, and Market Inefficiencies
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In this episode, Cliff Asness joins Tano Santos and Michael Mauboussin for a conversation that spans the evolution of quantitative investing, lessons from market crises, and the enduring tension between risk and behavioral explanations in finance. From his formative years at the University of Chicago under Gene Fama to building AQR into a quant powerhouse, Cliff reflects candidly on theory, performance, and how markets may have become less efficient in recent years. Key Topics: Tano and Michael return from sabbatical and reflect on recent academic and classroom experiences (0:00)...
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Phil Ruvinsky - Sustainable Competitive Advantages in Technology
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In this episode, Michael Mauboussin, adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, hosts Phil Ruvinsky, Managing Director and Head of the Fundamental U.S. Growth Team at BlackRock. With extensive experience in the investment industry, Phil shares his journey from law to finance, discusses his investment philosophy, and explains the importance of sustainable competitive advantages. The conversation explores the evaluation of management, the impact of AI on the competitive landscape, and the nuances of portfolio construction. Phil also highlights the role of macroeconomic factors and regulatory...
info_outlineAmit Wadhwaney, founding partner and portfolio manager at Moerus Capital Management, joins hosts Tano Santos and Michael Mauboussin to trace his unorthodox journey from Bombay to Concordia to founding a value investing firm focused on the balance sheet. Along the way, he discusses his early exposure to Marty Whitman, lessons from Third Avenue’s international expansion, and what led him to start Moerus.
Amit outlines the core of his investment approach—asset-based valuation, downside protection, and long-term holding periods—and explains why macro factors are typically disqualifiers, not drivers, in his process. He shares insights into portfolio construction, the role of currency risk, and how Moerus identified undervalued opportunities in places like Argentina, Japan, and the gold sector.
Key Topics:
● Growing up in India and finding investing through chemical engineering and economics (3:04)
● Discovering Marty Whitman via an obscure academic book on value investing (5:05)
● Lessons from selling real estate during Quebec’s post-referendum panic (9:23)
● Joining MJ Whitman and watching Third Avenue evolve (11:12)
● Pioneering international value investing at Third Avenue (17:05)
● Founding Moerus Capital: philosophy, culture, and investment constraints (24:38)
● Moerus’s asset-based investment framework (28:48)
● Managing macro risk and volatility through conservatism, not forecasts (30:41)
● Risk management: internal, external, and business model-related risks (33:00)
● Portfolio construction, position sizing, and concentration limits (46:39)
● Currency exposure and when to hedge (49:12)
● Case studies: Grupo Galicia and Despegar during Argentina’s political shift (51:15)
● What keeps Amit up at night: industrial policy, broken immigration, and political gridlock (1:00:52)
● What Amit is reading—and what the Norton Simon Museum can teach investors (1:03:39)
● And much more!
Mentioned in this Episode:
● Moerus Capital Management
● Third Avenue Management
● MJ Whitman
● Marty Whitman
● Grupo Financiero Galicia
● Despegar.com
● Wheaton Precious Metals
● Major Drilling Group
● Dundee Corporation
● UniCredit
● LATAM Airlines
● Journal of Economic Literature
● Shubik and Whitman’s The Aggressive Conservative Investor
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