During the quarter we sold our remaining position in Titan Cement (ATH:TITK, Financial). We initially purchased shares in this family”controlled Greek cement company in the height of the European Sovereign crisis, meaning early 2011, prior to the world coming to be at peace with ballooning European sovereign debt loads and highly questionable credit worthiness. One of our primary attractions to Titan at that time was a South Florida”focused US operation that had not yet recovered from the US housing crisis. In the years of our ownership, Titan’s US division did indeed show a considerable resurgence. Its Greek business, while macro”challenged, performed better than one might have guessed given the dire operating environment. The company’s operations in Egypt however were diminished as a result of large scale gas shortages in that country. After having realized a respectable IRR of 7.8%, our sense of the company’s cheapness has faded and simultaneously the path to further improvement in operating performance is more questionable. The growing prospect of Greek capital controls and potential disruption in the Greek equity market had some influence on our disposition which we completed prior to the Athens Stock Exchange closure in July.
From Third Avenue Management (Trades, Portfolio) International Value Fund's Q3 2015 shareholder letter.
