Will Thomson - Real Assets Are Like Hansel (So Hot Right Now)

The Business Brew

Will Thomson stops by The Business Brew to discuss his approach to real asset investing. Will focuses on companies that happen to produce commodities and/or real assets. That said, he is looking to exploit company/project specific opportunities rather than making commodity calls. In this episode, he describes hi s process and explains how an investor could use publicly disclosed information to see a company's business plan (See: a 4301 document in Canada).

Will is the Founder and Managing Partner of Massif Capital, LLC.

He has experience in private equity and credit/political risk insurance, in addition to having served as a strategic and economic adviser to NATO/ISAF in Afghanistan. Before starting Massif Capital, Will worked in the New York office of Chaucer, a Lloyd’s of London insurance syndicate, serving as the co-portfolio manager for a $750 million portfolio of credit and political risk insurance policies. He is a Graduate of Trinity College and holds a Masters in Government from Harvard University.

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Detailed Show Notes:

5:00 - Will's take on oil

8:00 - What is the Lassonde Curve

11:38 - How a filing can help an investor underwrite mining companies.

14:00 - How Will thinks of comparing his DCF to market prices

15:00 - Will discusses how he thinks about investing

19:50 - How will thinks about placing commodity bets on equities

22:00 - The risk reward of majors vs minors in mining

27:50 - "Are you buying well or are you buying good things?"

31:00 - A discussion about Lithium Americas

36:10 - Don't fall in love with the assets

40:33 - The difference between processed commodities and depleting commodities and what it means for margins

45:14 - Some Inflation Reduction Act discussion

51:00 - Sometimes change creates opportunities in the things that don't change

1:05:00 - Chesterson's fence and then discussion