•  
• Tweet
•  
•        Print
•  
•         Track Keywords
•  
• 

By: Paul Dimitruk, Chairman and Co-Founder of Partners Capital

As an Outsourced Investment Office acting for endowments and foundations, and ultra-high-net-worth families in Europe, North America and Asia, we advise our clients on their total investment programs, including asset allocation and portfolio construction. Most importantly, we provide access to what we believe are best-of-breed asset managers. A core focus of our firm is the identification of managers with true competitive advantages who will perform well in client portfolios over the long-term. Of increasing importance to our due diligence process is the assessment of the ethics, motivation and character of the senior leadership at an asset manager and, in the case of activist managers, often of the CEOs of the companies they back with concentrated bets.

Character is a complex and nuanced attribute that often is overlooked or ignored. In its simplest form, it is being prepared to say "no" to things that are wrong and "yes" to things that are right and, often, require courage to act upon. It also most often comes with a degree of humility, a recognition that none of us are actually Masters of the Universe, for whom the normal rules need not apply.

In diligencing and monitoring managers, our job is not simply to confirm all the positive statements that we learn from the manager’s pitch materials and in conventional interviews. Instead, we endeavor to figure out "what could be wrong with the pictur......................

To view our full article Click here