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Announcer: Live from the Internet, it’s Tradestreaming Radio, with your host, Tradestreaming.com’s own Zack Miller.
Zack: Hey, this is Zack Miller and you’re listening to Tradestreaming Radio, our place on the Internet where investors learn directly from experts. We’ve got a great show today. We’ve got Jeffrey Towson, the author of “What Would Benjamin Graham Do Now?” Towson was Head of Direct Investments, Asia Pacific and Middle East for Prince Waleed of Saudi Arabia, who is the world’s fourth wealthiest person. He manages a portfolio of over $22 billion, and Towson worked for him for many years, having grown up in the States. Lived overseas and was very much involved in direct investments, buying up properties, investing directly into companies.
His book is a really interesting take, because for many years, obviously, U.S. investors have recognized that there is the rest of the world, and it’s getting more and more interesting. Unfortunately, the way we do it is somewhat, according to Towson, very contorted. Buying a multinational that has exposure to the Middle East is one way to play this game, but obviously not the best. So, in his book, he lays out sort of a framework for investors of any sort, whether they’re retirement investors or professional investors, private equity guys, hedge fund managers, who really want to understand and learn from a framework of how to do business in the Far East. He lays it out in this book.
It’s a very good book. The book, in fact, is probably more suited for the classroom, but it was a very informative read. Lots of interesting anecdotes, and to me, the most interesting thing about the entire enterprise is how Waleed grew his business from a $30,000 loan from his father into a $22 billion investment portfolio, really with two or three staff. It’s a bare bones operation, yet he has his hands in investments all over the world. Being able to understand that model, to me, was really one of the most interesting takeaways from this book. Continue reading “How Saudi Prince Waleed invested globally and grew $30k to $22B — with Jeffrey Towson (transcript)”
