I had never heard of Peter Cundill until he passed away on January 24th 2011. After his death many colleagues of mine told me interesting facts about Peter, and informed me that a new book was being released about Peter Cundill. Coincidentally, I was asked by the publicist if I would be interested in reviewing a copy before the book was released; I jumped at the opportunity.
There's Always Something to Do: The Peter Cundill Investment Approach, was authored by Christopher Risso-Gill, a very close friend of Peter since 1978. Originally Peter had planned on writing the book himself, but as his health deteriorated he asked Christopher to write the book instead.
I was not disappointed by the book. It is a very interesting insight into Peter Cundill’s personal life and investments. The author is able to draw on his personal interactions with Peter, and hundreds of pages of notes which Peter recorded throughout his life.
The foreword from Prem Watsa is full of praise for the author and Peter. Watsa describes Cundill as a deep value investor, inspired by the writings of Benjamin Graham (this theme is repeated throughout the book). The foreword contains Peter’s motto of “Buying a dollar for 40 cents”. Watsa jokes that Peter did not buy Fairfax for 15 years because it was too expensive; instead waiting until the stock reached a price that Peter thought was cheap. Peter’s track record while managing The Cundill Value Fund was 15.2% per annum for 33 years!
The book discusses some of the relationships that Peter developed throughout his life with some famous value investors including; Prem Watsa, Michael Price, Irving Kahn, and John Templeton. Peter was particularly close with Sir. John Templeton and Templeton eventually invested $5 million with Peter.
One of the main reasons behind Peter’s success was his patience. Peter stated “THE MOST IMPORTANT ATRIBUTE FOR SUCCESS IN VALUE INVESTING IS PATIENCE, PATIENCE, AND MORE PATIENCE. THE MAJORITY OF INVESTORS DO NOT POSESS THIS CHARACTERISTIC”. However, Peter was able to distinguish between patience and stubbornness. The difference between the two is a willingness to reanalyze and evaluate all of your assumptions and calculations you made when you invested. If there are material changes after a thorough evaluation than holding onto the security only demonstrates stubbornness.
Peter was true to his deep value philosophy throughout his career. Peter loved companies with low book values, dividends, a low PE, and history of increased earnings. Peter also was very careful to watch the issuance of debt by a company. He would search for net-nets throughout the world. Peter would sometimes find that the assets the company owned were worth for more than the numbers stated on the balance sheet. At times, Peter would find companies trading at only a fraction of liquidation value. He did not limit himself to one particular country or continent, and invested in Europe, Japan, and South America among other places.
Peter later got involved with investing in distressed debt; He would look at three factors when investing in companies that had entered Chapter XI. Will the company be in a position to pay a negotiated settlement that is worthwhile to bondholders? After looking at the fine print of the debt issuance (often overlooked by many investors) did the stock provide a large enough margin of safety? Finally, he tried to calculate how long the bankruptcy process would take.
Although, Peter was a complete bottom up value investor he had some excellent macro-calls. One example: In 1969, Peter stated “If these mainland Asian countries, and especially China, were to ever get their act together economically like Japan they could rival the whole North America and the rest of the developed world without even blinking”. This quote came while Taiwan had the “Chinese” seat on the UN Security Council! Today we see this prophesy from 42 years ago unfolding before our eyes.
There is a lot more that I could write but I encourage all readers to check out the book for themselves. It is the type of book that a beginning to advanced investor would appreciate. The book is very enjoyable read and there are many company specific investments discussed throughout the book. In addition, there is an interesting net-net worksheet that was designed by Peter in 1975 that he used throughout his career.
To purchase the book on Amazon.com click on the following link- There's Always Something to Do: The Peter Cundill Investment Approach
http://www.valuewalk.com/
Disclosure: I receive free books from book publishers and authors asking me to review them. In addition I sometimes request specific books that look interesting. I try to review the books that I think will be the most interesting. I have a material connection because I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. In addition I receive a small commission if you click on the above link and buy the book (or anything else) from Amazon.com. However, it does not cost you a penny more.
There's Always Something to Do: The Peter Cundill Investment Approach, was authored by Christopher Risso-Gill, a very close friend of Peter since 1978. Originally Peter had planned on writing the book himself, but as his health deteriorated he asked Christopher to write the book instead.
I was not disappointed by the book. It is a very interesting insight into Peter Cundill’s personal life and investments. The author is able to draw on his personal interactions with Peter, and hundreds of pages of notes which Peter recorded throughout his life.
The foreword from Prem Watsa is full of praise for the author and Peter. Watsa describes Cundill as a deep value investor, inspired by the writings of Benjamin Graham (this theme is repeated throughout the book). The foreword contains Peter’s motto of “Buying a dollar for 40 cents”. Watsa jokes that Peter did not buy Fairfax for 15 years because it was too expensive; instead waiting until the stock reached a price that Peter thought was cheap. Peter’s track record while managing The Cundill Value Fund was 15.2% per annum for 33 years!
The book discusses some of the relationships that Peter developed throughout his life with some famous value investors including; Prem Watsa, Michael Price, Irving Kahn, and John Templeton. Peter was particularly close with Sir. John Templeton and Templeton eventually invested $5 million with Peter.
One of the main reasons behind Peter’s success was his patience. Peter stated “THE MOST IMPORTANT ATRIBUTE FOR SUCCESS IN VALUE INVESTING IS PATIENCE, PATIENCE, AND MORE PATIENCE. THE MAJORITY OF INVESTORS DO NOT POSESS THIS CHARACTERISTIC”. However, Peter was able to distinguish between patience and stubbornness. The difference between the two is a willingness to reanalyze and evaluate all of your assumptions and calculations you made when you invested. If there are material changes after a thorough evaluation than holding onto the security only demonstrates stubbornness.
Peter was true to his deep value philosophy throughout his career. Peter loved companies with low book values, dividends, a low PE, and history of increased earnings. Peter also was very careful to watch the issuance of debt by a company. He would search for net-nets throughout the world. Peter would sometimes find that the assets the company owned were worth for more than the numbers stated on the balance sheet. At times, Peter would find companies trading at only a fraction of liquidation value. He did not limit himself to one particular country or continent, and invested in Europe, Japan, and South America among other places.
Peter later got involved with investing in distressed debt; He would look at three factors when investing in companies that had entered Chapter XI. Will the company be in a position to pay a negotiated settlement that is worthwhile to bondholders? After looking at the fine print of the debt issuance (often overlooked by many investors) did the stock provide a large enough margin of safety? Finally, he tried to calculate how long the bankruptcy process would take.
Although, Peter was a complete bottom up value investor he had some excellent macro-calls. One example: In 1969, Peter stated “If these mainland Asian countries, and especially China, were to ever get their act together economically like Japan they could rival the whole North America and the rest of the developed world without even blinking”. This quote came while Taiwan had the “Chinese” seat on the UN Security Council! Today we see this prophesy from 42 years ago unfolding before our eyes.
There is a lot more that I could write but I encourage all readers to check out the book for themselves. It is the type of book that a beginning to advanced investor would appreciate. The book is very enjoyable read and there are many company specific investments discussed throughout the book. In addition, there is an interesting net-net worksheet that was designed by Peter in 1975 that he used throughout his career.
To purchase the book on Amazon.com click on the following link- There's Always Something to Do: The Peter Cundill Investment Approach
http://www.valuewalk.com/
Disclosure: I receive free books from book publishers and authors asking me to review them. In addition I sometimes request specific books that look interesting. I try to review the books that I think will be the most interesting. I have a material connection because I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. In addition I receive a small commission if you click on the above link and buy the book (or anything else) from Amazon.com. However, it does not cost you a penny more.
