TIP582: Quality & Defensive Investing w/ Christian Billinger

<p>Clay Finck is joined by Christian Billinger to discuss his quality investing philosophy.</p><p>Christian is chairman of Billinger Förvaltnings AB, which invests in publicly listed equities. The firm seeks to generate attractive long-term total returns in real terms without employing financial leverage. Christian previously covered European equities for Cheyne Capital, Gartmore, and GAM in London.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:</strong></p><p>00:00 - Intro</p><p>01:39 - What quality investing is and why it works.</p><p>04:20 - How Christian assesses the reinvestment rate for a business and a company’s runway.</p><p>10:27 - Why soul in the game is more important than skin in the game.</p><p>12:58 - Qualities to look for to find operating managers with soul in the game.</p><p>19:16 - Why Christian prefers investing in family-owned public equities.</p><p>21:59 - Why he highly prioritizes removing the risk of losing money.</p><p>25:48 - What differentiates Christian’s current holdings from companies on his watchlist.</p><p>31:44 - What Christian learned from working with institutional investors.</p><p>41:36 - What stands out to Christian about Markel.</p><p>46:37 - Why Tom Gayner is an investor and business manager worth studying.</p><p>47:46 - How the investment outlook between Berkshire and Markel differ.</p><p>49:42 - Why Christian’s fund is heavily invested in the spirits industry, and what has led to the recent underperformance in 2023.</p><p><br></p><p><em>Disclaimer: Slight discrepancies in the timestamps may occur due to podcast platform differences.</em></p><p><br></p><p><strong>BOOKS AND RESOURCES</strong></p><ul><li>Check out our newly released<a href="https://theinvestorspodcast.com/mastermind" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>&nbsp;TIP Mastermind Community</strong></a>.</li><li>Christian’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.billingerforvaltning.se/about/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>investment firm</strong></a>.</li><li>Related Episode:&nbs