Despatch from Tokyo – The multiracialism of the Brave Blossoms
Anyone out there who despairs about the amount of religion, language and caste related bigotry we see in India should despair less. This super piece from Pallavi Aiyer explains how an ultra-conservative country like Japan – where people have told pollsters that they would prefer to work with robots rather than work with foreigners – […]
A Long-Only Manager’s Radical, Logical Idea of Zero Management Fees
As some of you might know, at Marcellus we offer clients an unusual fee structure: we charge fees only if we deliver in excess of 8% and our fees are a fifth of the return generated in excess of 8%. Now, an American wealth manager has done some research which provides intellectual justification for our […]
Non-Intuitive Lessons From the Man Who Solved the Market
Renaissance Technologies, one of the world’s best performing investment firms ever has been an enigma of sorts with very little understanding outside the firm about what underpins this sustained stupendous performance. Exactly how stupendous are we talking – Renaissance’s Medallion fund over the last 30yrs has returned 39% annually net of fees. That’s not all […]
The giant steps of Yashasvi Jaiswal
Warren Buffet calls it the ovarian lottery. For most of us, the conditions of our birth – financial, geographical and social, determine much of how the rest of our lives pan out. Few people defy this lottery and rise up against all odds. The Mint carries a heart-warming story of a boy who came up […]
Nokia’s collapse turned a sleepy town in Finland into an internet wonderland
Nokia, the Finnish pioneer in mobile phones controlled almost 40% of the world’s mobile phone market a little over a decade ago. In no time, it disappeared into oblivion as far as its position as a mobile phone maker is concerned (although its network equipment business continues to thrive). At Marcellus, we look for competitive […]
The role of P/E multiples in determining investment returns
In the BSE100 universe we find no significant correlation between starting period valuations (i.e. at the beginning of the concerned period) and subsequent long-term returns, no matter which phase of the stock market one looks at – phases of rapid P/E multiple expansion, significant P/E multiple compression, strong earnings growth, or weak earnings growth. Instead, […]
Why older people should be allowed to change their legal age
Earlier this week IndusInd Bank shares rose supposedly as the bank announced that it has finalised a potential candidate to replace its current CEO Ramesh Sobti who will have to retire at the age of 70yrs as per the current norms of the RBI. Similarly, Aditya Puri, the CEO of HDFC Bank, India’s largest private […]
Gandhi at 150: Icon immortalised in special New York Times crossword, made by Indian
We are fond of stories which describe the ascent made by Indians from modest origins. If such stories narrate quirky success stories then so much the better. Mangesh Ghogre’s success belongs to this category. Over the past 15 years, this engineering graduate from Panvel, a suburb of Mumbai, has become one of the leading crossword […]
Be Humble, and Proudly, Psychologists Say
It is often said that in the world of investing, the most important personality trait for success is humility, especially the intellectual kind – defined as an awareness of one’s limitations of knowledge and understanding of the world. However, it is also often the hardest to sustain given the job requires one to demonstrate enough […]
Mumbai and Kolkata face the wrath of sea-level rise
Just as a surprise burst of showers sent Mumbaikars scrambling around on Friday, you could hear Axl Rose, Slash and co belting out November Rain in your mind only to be interrupted by the cab driver ranting about how we have brought all this upon ourselves by felling trees and building a concrete mess. This coincided with […]
How Do You Like We Now
This epic takedown of WeWork will go down in the history of journalism as one of the defining pieces which captured the craziness of the post-QE world. Matt Levine has written a rip-roaring piece designed to enliven even the most down-at-heel start-up owner. The article begins on a business-like note: “A lot of kids starting at […]
The Lenders In Our Portfolio Will Gain From The Ongoing Crisis
Great lenders (banks as well as NBFCs), which are Consistent Compounders, benefit significantly in the aftermath of a financial crisis. This is because: (a) when the competition struggles to raise funds during & after a crisis, great lenders have access to adequate liquidity; and (b) as competition’s ability to lend reduces, great lenders can […]
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