PenderFund

Sarah Wildman, Director of Institutional Relationships, is joined by David Barr and Felix Narhi to provide an early quarterly equity update. With investor sentiment turning more fearful, concerns over trade wars and political unrest we wanted to bring our update forward to address these global events and their effect on current markets, while providing an update on our portfolios.

Maria Pacella, Senior Vice President of Private Equity at Pender, is joined by Michelle Scarborough, Managing Director of Strategic Investments and the Women in Technology Venture Fund at the Business Development Bank of Canada. They discuss the challenges and rewards of investing in venture capital enterprises, building bridges, talent spotting, hitting target markets and managing stakeholder expectations. They also discuss what Michelle has been reading lately.

Sarah Wildman is joined by Geoff Castle for the first of the Pender Quarterly Fixed Income Update Podcasts. Geoff is the portfolio manager of the Pender Corporate Bond Fund. They discuss the current fixed income environment, negative rates, the preferred shares market, current investment stories and current market risks. Geoff also shares what he’s reading this summer.

Sarah Wildman is joined by David Barr and Felix Narhi for the first of the Pender Quarterly Update Podcasts. David and Felix are both are analysts and portfolio managers of the Pender Value Fund. David also manages the Pender Small Cap Opportunities Fund, and Felix, the US All Cap Equity and Strategic Growth and Income mandates. They discuss the current equity environment, contribution, M&A, current investment stories and more. They also share what books are on their summer reading lists.

David Barr interviews Michael Lombardi, former NFL executive and author of Gridiron Genius.  Michael shares his experiences as a member of the coaching staff for several NFL teams working alongside head coaches Bill Walsh, Al Davis and Bill Belichick and how these remarkable experiences led to the publication of his book, “Gridiron Genius”. Touching on culture and leadership in football strategy, Michael shares how the importance of building teams in the NFL relates to the business world today.

David Barr is interviewed by Sarah Wildman, Director of Institutional Relationships at PenderFund. They look back on the past 10 years of Pender, highlighting key events and stories, the Pender culture, and of course, investing.

Key Takeaways

[01:03] The key events for Pender over the past 10 years.

[05:11] The key factors which have contributed to Pender's growth.

[05:53] The Pender Edge. What are the three core components?

[10:47] “There are two types of companies in the market: Those with problems and those that will have problems.”

[13:30] The core characteristics of Pender’s clientele.

[17:30] Michael Lombardi’s Gridiron Genius – How this applies to Pender when evaluating companies to invest in.

[23:47] David’s must-read books on investing, building a business, leading teams and decision making.

Maria Pacella sits down with the founder of Clarius Mobile Health, Laurent Pelissier. Laurent has been at the forefront of developing and commercializing cutting-edge ultrasound technology for nearly 20 years. Clarius is an inflection-stage tech company which has developed and commercialized wireless handheld ultrasound scanners which can be used anywhere from a physio office to remote emergency service calls. Laurent and Maria talk about his entrepreneurial journey, what he hoped to achieve when he founded Clarius, the problems the company is trying to solve and the breakthroughs they have made.

Maria Pacella sits down with the founders of Point Grey Research, a global leader in innovative, high-performance digital cameras. She was joined by Vlad Tucakov, Don Murray and Malcom Steenburgh who share stories from their days at the University of BC to building an organisation of over 300 employees worldwide. They give insights into how Point Grey grew over the years, the challenges they faced and the tough decisions that had to be made, until it was eventually acquired by FLIR Integrated Imaging Solutions in 2016.

In this episode Maria Pacella talks to Judi Hess, CEO of Copperleaf Technologies, a Vancouver based venture capital backed firm which has developed decision analytics software for companies around the world managing critical infrastructure. Judi talks about her experience of rising through the ranks, being overlooked for leadership positions, how she arrived in her current role as CEO and how she still sees instances of gender bias in the workplace today. Maria asks her about who inspired and influenced her, what she learned along the way, and the advice she has for women generally in business and in leadership positions, “When you're offered a leadership position say, "Yes."”.

In this episode David Barr sits down with Amar Pandya, Senior Investment Analyst and Associate Portfolio Manager, to discuss the Canadian equity market. They discuss the opportunities, mis-priced securities and compounders vs close the discount businesses.

They talk about their approach to the energy sector and also the unknowable risks that keep them up at night. Throughout they highlight various portfolio holdings as they discuss where they see growth in Canadian compounders today.