Thematic Investors
Welcome to Thematic Investors, powered by Vidrio Financial. The Thematic Investor podcast is hosted by Kieran Cavanna who is the Co-Founder and CIO of Old Farm Partners. This podcast will focus on institutional investment trends that are being explored, researched, and executed today by some of the best investors in the world. Listeners can expect forward-thinking insights from our monthly guests. The range of ideas and themes are expansive, and will include energy transition, emerging markets, technology, endowment allocation strategies, as well as exploring quantitative and discretionary investing strategies. Join us in listening to these innovative investors as it will be the best thirty minutes spent for those in the institutional investing arena. This podcast is being powered by Vidrio Financial.
Episodes
The demand dynamic for US power growth is significantly accelerating, with spending on new generation assets – necessary to keep pace – nearing $350B over the next five years. This presents a tremendous opportunity for institutional investors focused on the total energy complex and its ripple effects across infrastructure, commodities, and more. From a policy standpoint, flexibility will ...
The world is changing rapidly as it searches for new energy alternatives to meet the growing demand of data centers, electric vehicles and to reduce carbon emissions. Add in geopolitics around Ukraine and Iran, and the infrastructure of energy supply lines becomes less stable. Given this landscape, how can thematic investors optimize portfolio strategies to generate returns across both energy and inf...
The early days of hedge funds can be described as somewhat akin to the Wild West, characterized by limited information flow, higher volatility, and the risk of losing focus that could easily derail any performance gains made. Today, the industry is run more efficiently with improved information flows and regulatory oversight, which cuts down on the “nefarious characters” that have existed...
Many successful careers in institutional investing are forged early from a high degree of passion, curiosity, and discipline in the space. These traits accelerate your learning curve and help you build a network that keeps you competitive over the long term. For those investors specializing in emerging markets, you add a focus on politics and whether leaders in those markets can actually implement th...
What fuels the curiosity and drive to become a great investor? Could it be early teenage stock market experiments that return 20% or simply being bored in the UK’s equivalent of Iowa, allowing you to take deeper dives into company annual reports during summer breaks? Edgar Allen began his own investment career, fueled by these experiences, as well as through his studies as a budding pathologist...
Throughout many of our past episodes on the Thematic Investors podcast, we have seen the differences in hedge fund investing strategies when East meets West. Given today’s trade and tariff environment, we wanted to expand the debate with two leading macro investors, pulling their insights on tariffs, U.S. exceptionalism, capital expenditures in areas like AI, and more.
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Investing in healthcare and biotech requires razor-sharp models, especially if you want to create more opportunities in this category through short selling. In today’s market, how can investors capitalize on short opportunities when AI, external Medicare Service pressure, policy regulation, and other factors are impacting healthcare investment targets and potentially derailing performance retur...
With the ongoing volatility of tariffs and trade wars, many institutional investors are looking towards the safe havens of precious metals and critical materials. These include gold, silver, palladium, uranium, and more. However, in many cases, these metals are not designed for rapid price increases. In 2025, we’re already seeing gold having a huge run, but will it continue?
As the fiscal brakes start to come off of Europe, how can investors begin to take advantage of investment opportunities that are on the horizon? Many viewed the early days of the Trump presidency as negative, but could that view shift as pressure increases to move Europe closer together? Early movements are pointing towards a union of capital markets and banking, which could result in the breaking of...
When comparing emerging market equity investments to their credit investment counterparts, the scales quickly tip to favor credit investments by offering investors 150-200 basis points in real growth. The story on emerging market credit investments remains robust, but how does that growth translate across different regional markets? This is what we’re going to find out in the latest episode of ...
In the world of institutional investing, many trailblazers didn’t start in finance. This field boasts talents from backgrounds, including musicians, philosophers, and even physicists. Take Val Zlatev, for instance. Originally a physicist, his journey took a thrilling turn during a Chicago event when he visited the commodities exchange. Upon looking down at the trading floor he saw enthusiasm an...
Long-short investors seriously targeting the energy sector need to adjust their nets and focus on placing bets on everything from coal, oil, natural gas, uranium, and other relevant sectors. This investment style isn’t about making massive directional wagers like a CTA fund; instead, it’s about leveraging macro trends to balance risks and seize opportunities in this dynamic market.
...Exploring the depths of distressed investing can occasionally uncover undeniable proof that the asset is far from lifeless, revealing a scenario much more promising than the market price once suggested. All it takes is a catalyst to turn a dead investment into an opportunity with huge asymmetric returns.
In the latest episode of the Thematic Investors podcast, h...
In this latest episode of Thematic Investors Podcast, host Kieran Cavanna, Chief Investment Officer and Co-Founder, Old Farm Partners is joined by Will Homan-Russell, Chief Investment Officer, WMC Capital. Will brings his expertise on global shipping investment plays and how various market forces can impact the future of th...
Michael Steinhardt offered invaluable insights into investing, emphasizing the importance of conviction, balance, and the willingness to acknowledge mistakes. This rings especially true in the dynamic world of technology investments, where assessing asset pricing and risk in areas like artificial intelligence, application software, GPUs, and data management is crucial for success.
Legendary basketball coach Pat Riley was once quoted as saying, “Keep the main thing, the main thing”, which is a great tip for anyone wishing to enter the field of macro investing on the global stage. Everyone has similar data but the secret is how you interpret that intelligence in terms of risk, economic indicators, and even a bit of financial market history.
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Looking for asymmetry in the institutional investing space, and making it a part of your core competencies is not an easy task. In many instances, this requires hard work built on chasing down inefficiencies in the market and going into research overdrive on an idea where very little sell-side coverage exists. This is where great success stories are made.
In thi...
When looking at European investments how will the UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy align on energy transition, innovative technology growth, financial services, and more? How can institutional investors capture this market when comparing them against more attractive U.S. opportunities?
In our latest episode of the Thematic Investors podcast, host, Ki...
In the fast-paced world of institutional investing, the speed of innovation varies across different sectors. However, in the realm of telecommunications, investment strategies are constantly evolving. Whether your focus is on the cutting-edge upstream products like carriers, data centers, and telecom companies, or the dynamic downstream products such as semiconductors and the intricate supply chain t...
When it comes to institutional investors exploring alternative energy sources uranium and nuclear energy present an intriguing opportunity. With the pressing need to address high global energy demands and combat climate change, this is an energy source that should not be underestimated. However, concerns still exist in terms of supply and demand as well as the geopolitical environment on the global s...
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