The Rules of Investing: Peter Cooper’s next big idea

This week’s guest on the podcast is Peter Cooper, founder and Chief Investment Officer of Cooper Investors, one of Australia’s leading boutique investment firms. His success is probably best conveyed by the incredible performance of the CI Brunswick fund, which he manages personally. This fund has outperformed the ASX200 Accumulation Index by a cumulative 537%, or 8.3% p.a. since inception in 2004. 

In this week’s podcast, we discuss:

• Two ‘clusters’ of investment opportunities that have him excited today, including his ‘big idea’ for the next 30 years
• The two different types of value (value creators and reversionary value) and why you need to think about them differently
• Two ASX small cap floats that he’s participated in over the last year, and why he likes the companies so much
• A personal story of some of the philanthropic work that CI have undertaken
• Which ASX stock he’d want to own if the market were to close for five years.

“If you ask me the question ‘where did I get lucky in my 30 year career, and how am I going to get lucky in the next 30 years?’ This is the one.” 

Old fashion banking with a modern twist

One ‘cluster’ that he’s particularly excited about right now is “1950s banking”, or relationship banking. These are companies that deeply understand their customers. They can achieve a lower customer acquisition cost as most of their new business comes from referrals. But importantly, they use technology to enhance the relationship, not replace the relationship. 

“They have a spiritual connection to customers that goes beyond MBA-speak.” 

He shares the examples of:

• St James’ Place (UK)
• Handelsbanken (Sweden)
• Signature Bank (USA)
• First Republic (USA)
• Heartland Bank (NZ)
• Clydesdale Bank (ASX listed and UK operated)