Chairman of the board of directors
Gert Van Huynegem
Husband and father of 3, Chairman of the Board of Directors, a passion for investing, sports and travel. Master in Business Economics and former Managing Director at Deutsche Bank AG, London.
What is your ambition for GVF?
For me, investing is more than a job, it’s a passion. Health permitting, I see myself doing this for the next 30 to 40 years. To excel in something one’s passionate about gives great satisfaction. My goal is to compound capital at an attractive rate over a long period of time. This takes priority over all other professional and financial ambitions. To achieve my personal ambition, it is key to maintain a competitive advantage over other investors with a small and stable capital base and a flexible investment mandate.
Which investors inspired you?
Out of a long list of successful investors who have influenced my thinking about investing, Boris Zhilin from Armor Capital, Mark Landecker at FPA and Joel Greenblatt at Gotham Capital deserve a special mention. Joel founded an online forum where investors exchange investment ideas. We have been a member of his Value Investors Club since inception of GVF.
member of the board of directors
Christopher Herbosch
Husband and father of 2, Member of the Board of Directors, a passion for investing, skiing, architecture and travel. Bachelor in Business Administration and former Managing Director at Deutsche Bank AG, London.
How do you Operate the fund?
There is a school of fund-managers who favour the one-captain-ship approach in order to arrive at untainted decisions. In contrast, I compare our operations more to that of a flight-crew, where 3 people continuously have to agree on the investment decisions. More eyes overseeing this investment process reduces costly events, without obstructing positive returns. Our fundamental approach also goes way beyond spreadsheets; our analysis is a combination of number crunching and fact checking against actual context. On a personal level, I find identifying the common ground between numbers and reality very satisfactory.
What Principles Guide Your Work?
Integrity and discipline are non-negotiable. But long before deciding on that first company to invest in, you first need to choose the right partners. I consider myself blessed on how our common goals brought us together. We invested a lot of time in setting up our working environment in such a way that we can bring the best out of each other. Adding a good dose of stubbornness on my behalf makes for challenging and interesting conversations.
Senior Analyst
Nicolas Stepman
Husband and father of 2, Senior Analyst, a passion for investing and eighties music. Master in Finance with ten years experience in professional investing.
What books would you recommend about investing?
There are many good books out there, but I especially enjoyed the writings of Joel Greenblatt when I started investing. His writings are both funny and accessible, a combination which is rather rare in finance. ‘The Investment Checklist’ by Michael Shearn is a good field guide if you want to do your own fundamental analysis.
What's the most exciting aspect of your work?
There are different parts of the investing process that I find very engaging. There is the quantitative side which you can automate to a certain extent to speed up the analysis. We’ve built internal tools over the years that very quickly give us a comprehensive financial overview of the companies we’re interested in. But then there’s the qualitative & human factor. We’ve gained great insights by talking to people in the industry or other investors familiar with the company. It’s very rewarding to discover a company that ticks all our boxes and has a lot of potential ahead.
What about your life outside of work? What’s your favourite way to unwind?
When you have 2 young children, obviously spending time with the family is a big part of life outside work. Besides that, I’ve got a keen interest in dj culture and underground dance music, especially from the seventies, eighties and early nineties. In my free time, I like digging for new music, playing a dj set or enjoying one of my favourite dj’s play out.