investment thesis - iw partners · thesis - 3 - october 2015 iw partners • as the marginal...

i W A L T E R N A T I V E S I F

A Luxembourg Soc i é t é en Command i t e pa r Ac t i on s(Société d‘Investissement à Capital Variable – Fonds d‘Investissement Spécialisé)

M o n e y n e s s of G o l d

Gold as a hedge against the loss of moneyness for government debt, individual currencies and other assets

In search of non-correlation

Gold mines and especially junior gold mining shares as an insurance against the consequences of central bank policies to keep the debt serviced at all cost.

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IWALTERNATIVEINVESTMENT THESIS- 2 -

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GOLD MINES AND ESPECIALLY JUNIOR GOLD MINING SHARES AS AN INSURANCE AGAINST THECONSEQUENCES OF CENTRAL BANK POLICIES TO KEEP THE DEBT SERVICED AT ALL COST

• Current economic conditions are pleading in favor of investing in gold mining, and these conditions are set to make those pleas even stronger. Gold and gold mining equities have crashed painstickingly during the past three years. We interpret these very strong drawdowns as a normal expression of volatility, historicaly on board with every gold long-term bull cycle. The actual market situation should be taken as an attractive opportunity.

• The price of gold strongly correlates with interest rates and debt levels, and these two factors are heavily impacted by central bank policies. The gold bull market from 2000 to 2011 was driven by a near-tripling of the national US debt. The next leg will be compounded by rising interest rates and ever growing debt mountains, risking the loss of moneyness (liquidity and solvability).

• When interest rates rise, be it adapting to inflation or depicting default fears, other assets like debt, equity and commodities tend to fall while gold rises. So the costs of mining gold go down and revenues from producing gold rise at the same time. The margins for gold mining explode and valuations of gold mining shares grow enormously.

• Our sizable investment in junior mining gives our investors the most leveraged exposure to these effects. Indeed the more marginal the gold mine, the more operational leverage to rising gold prices, these mines produce in a deflating commodity environment.

Debt levels drive the real value of Gold

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• As the marginal productivity of additional debt becomes negative, i.e. there is no sufficient extra revenue produced to service the additional debt, the moneyness of the debt will - at least partially - be lost. Inflation, default, currency devaluations, excessive taxation, confiscation and even social misery and war will follow.

• Input costs to produce gold fall. And when debt levels begin to fall, expected returns from gold mines, can be spectacular due to rising gold mining margins.

On US debt

Extreme gold mining undervaluation

Paper asset inflation against gold

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Fiscal and monetary authorities trying to keep the debt serviced

What happens when moneyness is lost?

... but in the end additional debt becomes marginally unproductiveand central banks and governments lose control of interest rates and currencies and debt valuations

Brazil South-Korea Mexico

Russia Turkey USA


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Gold will rise with interest ratesMainstream has this wrong. In time this will be revealed. Beginning of the proof1. In the past:

Have a look at the seventies. The Fed issued to much bank notes. These issues happened conform to its mandate against government bonds. So when ra-tes rose these bonds began to fall on the Fed’s balance sheet. The dollar weakened and real rates went negative while nominal interest rates and gold rose.

2. Recently: When the Fed started to taper QE, interest rates rose in anticipation and so gold started to rally from its interim bottom. When QE3 and TWIST suppressed rates, gold went only down. Now in the first quarter of 2014 the up move in US rates has stopped (temporarily) so gold has hesitated and moves in a tight range.

3. The future: Remember with TWIST and QE the Fed holds more and more longer term government paper on its balance sheet. The fed holds today more than 40% of all long-dated government paper. So when rates will rise, the Fed’s assets which back the US dollar will rapidly lose value. The longer the maturity (duration) of a bond, the more sensitive it is to rising yields.

4. The nuclear option: Balance sheets must balance. What happens when interest rates control is lost? As the only other asset on its balance sheet beside government paper, the Fed itself could raise the nominal gold price to compensate for its loss on government paper. Such a desperate action will only come if everything else fails, i.e. when wholesale debt monetization to ‘serve the debt’ (avoid default) makes the dollar currency crash.

The price of Gold correlates with nominal rates Interest on the debt is set to explode



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Instead of Keynes we adhere to the Austian school

We believe in the wisdom of the invisible hand against the illusion - created by actual central bank policies - that there is no need for moral hazard to create growth in the real economy. Indeed the continuous interventionism by the Fed has brought us record inequality, ever lower inte-rest rates (the zero interest rate policy is already seven years in place) while base money (central bank money) is expanding in a frivolous, lunatic way. Malinvestments, bubble formations, markets distortions and overleverage (in search for yield) are the fruits of such a policy addiction.

The illusionary wealth creation by distorting asset valuations in all the markets by suppressing yields and emitting evermore base money, will bear booms in multiple asset classes to burst: from bond bubbles to real estate and from collectibles to industrial commodities. Gold’s non-corre-lation will play out as an effective insurance.

At some point the Fed will lose control, will be seen swimming naked (lacking new efficient GDP growth producing tools). The world will see that the emperor has no clothes … and the dollar will lose its status as a resevere currency.

Rates can never rise above their previous peak without causing an economic crash! Savers will lose confidence in the dollar as a store of value and a flight to gold will be seen, because in the end gold has always been money. Ludwig von Mises paraphrased it to perfection:

“There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.”Ludwig von Mises

Malinvestments bid up resources until there is a crash The market attempts to unwind the excesses. The Fed lowers rates (or prints), and the cycle starts all over again, only worse



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• Once a central bank begins to print to keep the debt serviced, or in other words to keep the credit boom running, it has no choice. It will have to print at an ever increasing rate to suppress real rates. Persisting negative rates will in the end cause the dollar’s value to collapse, as it is no longer seen as an efficient store of value. The flight to gold begins. Rai-sing interest rates to protect the dollar kills the credit boom and causes all assets correlated to the risk free treasuries to fall, causing economic depression. Gold rises and gold mining margins begin to boom thanks to gold’s non-correlation. The credit boom is global now: from Europe to Japan and from the US to China (China has already created $25 trillion of debt since Lehman). Hence a global monetary reset will evolve once the coming rolling currency crisis kills the dollar as reserve currency and the excess debt is cured worldwide. A collapse of China would bring commodities down, so again expanding the margins for gold mining.

The Chindian love tradeIf the coming financial reset is still to be postponed for some more years, growth in India and China will be needed. Growing standards of living in these countries bring with them a rising demand for gold as jewelry. The actual demand from Chindia already usurps the entire new actual mine production. Central bankers are no longer selling and Western gold speculation trough ETF’s has already halved. Gold in Asian hands is in strong hands because it is not related to financial speculation. Western gold speculators still hanging in during this negative climate for gold since it has touched $1920 per ounce, can also be considered as strong hands. So gold, either through the love trade or through the fear trade, is an opportunistic investment, even for the non-gold believer.

Hotel California syndrome• Once started printing and suppressing yields to sustain the credit boom, the loss of control is assured.

• Rising yields devalue all assets except gold.

• Modern central bank theory counts Treasury bonds as risk-free. There can be no default as we can always print more dollars risk-free. Risk-free treasuries become the opportunity cost of capital, so all other assets: stocks, bonds and real estate, must be priced in such a way that their effective yields are greater than that of Treasury bonds. Therefore, ceteris paribus, when the yield of Treasury bonds rises, the prices of all yielding assets must fall.

As a consequence earnings yield of equities highly correlates with the Treasury yield.



OCTOBER 2015

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GOLD A UNIQUE COMMODITY DESERVES A PLACE IN ASSET MANAGEMENT - 8 GOLD SINGULARITIES

1. All Gold ever produced is theoretically available. The marginal utility of gold is nearly constant.

2. Even in a gold bullmarket, mining production against existing stock (theoretical available) only expands around 1.5% (the stock to flow ratio is around 65).

3. Gold supply stays constant over time in relation to world population growth (Chart 1).

4. Oil gold ratio shows that oil is less volatile in gold than in dollar (Chart 2).

5. As gold anchors all values, governments try to control the gold markets, to indirectly influence interest rates and the economy. (Basis for gold manipulation? Confiscation during crisis: Roosevelt, Stalin, Hitler) (Chart 3).

6. The percentage of gold in government possession in function of the world stock is declining. Is loss of control of the goldmarket coming? (Chart 4).

7. Gold mining returns are not correlated to equity markets. They produce a hedge against equity bubble explosions (Chart 5).

8. Gold stocks help to succesfully diversify a balanced portfolio. (Chart 6).

The price of oil is less volatile, priced in goldGlobal gold production keeps supply per person nearly constant

1 2



OCTOBER 2015

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GOLDMINING RETURNS ARE INVERSLY CORRELATED TO EQUITY MARKETS.THEY PRODUCE A HEDGE AGAINST EQUITY BUBBLE EXPLOSIONS.

Homestake and DJIA 1920-1940 Global governments losing control of Gold

ASA Goldmines & the S&P 500 Index DOW / Gold ratio

3

5

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6S&P

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1920 1925 1930 1935 1940

Homestake Mining DJIA

DJIA-89%

Bank Holiday and Con�scation of Gold

O�cial Gold Price Raised From $20.67 to $35




OCTOBER 2015

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ACTUAL STATUS OF GOLD MINING

• Sector in crisis because all-in sustaining mining cost are equal to or higher than the actual gold price. Expansion is halted while small cap gold mines and junior explorers are bleeding by lack of financing.

• In 2013 gold miners started to react, reducing their expenditures by minimizing their total cash outflow. Producing positive cash flows became a market exigence. Mining only higher grades was another reaction. Marginal projects were halted or sold, just as multiple big-capital-de-manding new mine constructions became indefinitely deferred. Non-producing mining assets (gold in the ground) can be suspended in their development until prices recover. These assets become a de facto pure call option on gold, an option to be excercised when gold rises.

• Contrary to other commodities, gold has a near constant marginal utility, because gold is money. Thanks to this, gold’s marginal utility declines slower than that of other commodities. In terms of commodities, gold rises over the longer time in value. In time this makes gold mining margins always increasing.

As a consequence:- Depleted gold mines become productive again. Even ancient waste dumps become new ore. Ever lower grades become economical over time.- Logic dictates to apply thus an exceptional low discount rate for gold mining. Indeed in the future expanding casflow margins run against the discount in actual value- When debt bubbles implode, after interventions begin to fail, gold mines see rising value appreciation in the market.

Senior gold producers cash costs Gold production still very profitable

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20142013201220112010200920082007200620052004

Avg Gold Realized Price ($/oz) Avg Gold Cash Costs ($/oz)

Avg Gold Cash Margin ($/oz) Avg Gold Cash Margin (%/oz)

$700

$275

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$-

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Source: CIBC World Markets

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Acceptable Pro�t

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OCTOBER 2015

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1500

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6400

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1939 1946 1953 1960 1967 1974 1981 1988 1995 2002 2009

BGMI Gold

GOLD EQUITY VOLATILITY & OPTIONALITY

• Gold mining companies, and certainly non cash flow producing juniors, compensate with call options (call options on a call option). This effect augments the volatility inherent to their business activity. Valuations of exploration companies run up and down, beyond and over book value with the gold price itself.

• The two charts below on the left show the previous American gold boom: the higher gold and gold shares went (top chart), the sharper the declines from the previous high became (bottom graph). This pattern is repeating in this bull market (charts on the right).

• Speculating in the shares of junior gold mining companies is like capturing the gamma of a call option. The closer gold is to the cost of pro-duction, the more operational leverage the miner has to gold. As invested capital and costs grow, the position maintains its gearing to gold. The corrections in gold cause temporary collapses in the gold shares. But, as long as the capital structures and the gold bull market remain intact, the rebounds are even more impressive.

• Currency collapses send all nominal prices up, but also destroy debt and inhibit economic growth. Gold soars compared to industrial commo-dities, gold mining margins expand and mining valuations spike. The current losses in the sector can be quickly recovered.

Gold and gold shares experience accelerating growth and sharper drawdowns

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OCTOBER 2015

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THE ECONOMICS OF GOLD MINING: OPTIONALITY VERSUS NET PRESENT VALUE

• Much of the value of a gold mine is embedded in its optionality, which often exceeds net present value calculations, especially at low gold prices. For example, posit the following gold mining project: at $1300 gold it fails at higher discount rates. And in that case, the mining expansion is postponed.

• However, viewing the project as a real option on gold produces a positive valuation at both discount rates.

Year 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Gold Price $1.300 $1.500 $1.500 $1.500 $1.500 $1.500 $1.500 $1.500

Capital Expenditure (‘000s) -$15.000 -$15.000

Ounces Sold (‘000s) 10 10 20 20 20 20 20 20

Revenue (‘000s) $13.000 $15.000 $30.000 $30.000 $30.000 $30.000 $30.000 $30.000

Expenses (‘000s) $10.000 $10.000 $20.000 $20.000 $20.000 $20.000 $20.000 $20.000

Operating Cash Flow (‘000s) -$15.000 $3.000 -$10.000 $10.000 $10.000 $10.000 $10.000 $10.000 $10.000

10% 15%

IRR NPV@10% NPV@15%

Scenario 1 0,5 12% $1.005 -$1.538

Scenario 2 0,5 25% $15.457 $8.633

Considered the optionality 20% $8.231 $3.563

Year 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Gold Price $1.300 $1.300 $1.300 $1.300 $1.300 $1.300 $1.300 $1.300

Capital Expenditure (‘000s) -$15.000

Ounces Sold (‘000s) 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

Revenue (‘000s) $13.000 $13.000 $13.000 $13.000 $13.000 $13.000 $13.000 $13.000

Expenses (‘000s) $10.000 $10.000 $10.000 $10.000 $10.000 $10.000 $10.000 $10.000

Operating Cash Flow (‘000s) -$15.000 $3.000 $3.000 $3.000 $3.000 $3.000 $3.000 $3.000 $3.000

Year 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

-$15.000 $3.000 -$3.500 $6.500 $6.500 $6.500 $6.500 $6.500 $6.500

50% Scenario 1 & 50% Scenario 2

Synthesis: Impact on company valuation considering the optionality

Scenario 2: The gold price rises to $1500, and the project is expanded

Scenario 1: The gold price stays around $1300, expansion projects are postponed


OCTOBER 2015

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Example of optionality on invested capitalEndeavour is a low cost West African goldproducer with 324.000 ounces produced in 2013. Targeting 420.000 in 2014, 580.000 in 2015 and 600.000 in 2016. The four producing mines are in Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. This last one was bought with the Avion acquisition. Two more projects are in advanced stage towards production, the Houndé project (Burkina Faso) and the Kofi project, which is to be incorporated in their Tabakoto mine (Mali). All in sustaining costs (AISC) in 2013 were $1099/oz for a free cash flow of $95 million. First quarter 2014 (AISC) $1058/oz.In 2013 the company posted a non cash impairment of $ 368.3 million due to lower gold prices. The write down on its mining interest can op-tionally be recuperated if gold prices move up in a sustained manner. Fully diluted there are 437.370.312 shares, so at current price in USD, the market capitalization is $300.391.697. Recuperating these mining write-downs implies more than the actual market cap: $368 million against $300 million. It illustrates part of the optionality we are looking for with our allocation of nearly 5% of the NAV in Endeavour Mining Corporation.

• Even assuming a $1000 gold case, the mine retains its optionality to higher gold prices (which will eventually be reached), but only if it has avoided debt financing. Gold is pure equity, and equity capital is the best way to finance a gold mine, in order to preserve it’s optionality value. Financing with debt raises the break-even operational cost, increasing the sensitivity of the mine to gold prices, but also reducing the time value of the option embedded in the operation.

• The market currently values gold mining equities on an NPV basis, which is low at $1300 gold. However, given the inherent risks to an over indebted financial system, and the like-lihood of a sudden dollar devaluation, the value of gold mines considering their optionality far exceeds their current prices.

2015

$1500 GOLDExpand Project

NPV@10%: $15,457Gold Mine NPV@15%: $8,663

Option ValueNPV@10%: $8,231NPV@15%: $3,563 $1300 GOLD

No ExpansionNPV@10%: $1,005NPV@15%: $-1,538

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Resources (M oz) Market Cap / Oz (right) Ounces Produced (000 oz) (right)

$-1,538



OCTOBER 2015

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OUR ALLOCATION PREFERENCE FOR JUNIOR GOLD MINING AS THE IDEAL HEDGE

• Because valuations of junior mines are so sensible to margin expansion, they offer the best return in insurance terms.

• In gold mining, the highest cost producer has the greatest percentage margin expansion when the value of gold rises. The explorer with the most marginal deposits sees the greatest percentage rise in net asset value.

• Gold mining shares are near historic lows in terms of value even as macroeconomic conditions for gold mining continue to improve.

• Due to the low capitalizations often below $500 million, large established gold funds cannot invest in this market segment like a small fund or an individual investor. Big funds also avoid this sector because they dislike its extreme volatility.

• Traditional gold investment vehicles focus on the large cap sector (which has the least leverage to gold).

IW ALT-COMMODITIES-P€ BGF-WORLD GOLD FUND-A2RF USD

MARKET VECTORS GOLD MINERS

SHARE-GOLD-USD LO FUNDS-WORLD GLD USD-IA

Avg Wtd Mkt Cap ($M) 3.510,70 6.421,99 5.870,27 4.807,81 3.630,50

Median Market Cap ($M) 1.986,98 6.419,78 4.095,32 2.841,25 2.857,76

Royal Gold Inc 12.01%

Silver Wheaton Corp 10.30%

Market Vectors Jr Gold Miner 7.06%

Top 10 Holdings > Franco-Nevada Corp 6.30%

Rubicon Minerals Corp 3.84%

Global X Silver Miners Etf 3.58%

Pan American Silver Corp 3.58%

Endeavour Mining Corp 3.56%

Mcewen Mining Inc 3.51%

Market Vectors Gold Miners 3.14%


OCTOBER 2015

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IW GIVES OPERATIONAL LEVERAGE TO GOLD VIA ITS PREFERENCE TO JUNIORS

• The fund’s strategy tries to eliminate, diminish the risks of micro cap investing by its selection and respecting multiple diversification criteria.

• When additional leverage is sought opportunistically, it is done via currency plays, written puts and bought calls on major producers and royalty companies only. In the allocation to physical gold and silver, if leverage is sought, it is mostly done via knock-out warrants in order to de-risk possible capital loss.

• Also to partly mitigate the high volatility of juniors, a big part of the portfolio is permanently dedicated to producing low-cost big and mid caps and royalty companies or physical gold or silver.

• We only invest in publicly trading companies and we look to diversify between mines that have flexibility in bringing their assets to production.

• NI 43-101 resource estimates are required to invest more than 1% of the nav in a junior project.

• Insider ownership is also important. MUX is an extreme example of this approach.

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$800M to$1.6B

$1.6B to$3.2B

>$3.2B

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1%

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Allocation by category

Allocation by metalAllocation by market cap

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OCTOBER 2015

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CONCLUSION

• Gold is the ideal medium to store wealth outside government’s reach and outside of the banking system.

• Gold’s moneyness has no counterparty risk. It is the only financial asset that is not another’s liability, hence people have been using it as a reserve asset for thousands of years

• Gold is cheap contrary to its nominal price impression. It trades at an all-time low in terms of the monetary base. When the Fed loses control of the markets and the bubbles pop, the valuation of gold assets will produce a hedge of epic proportions (Chart 1).

• Gold mining margins can expand even when the price of gold declines. Indeed as other commodities fall more, the input costs for gold mines decline more rapidly than the gold price itself.

• The overactive Fed has tried to cure too much debt by stimulating more debt creation based on a Keynesian fallacy. With debt levels worldwi-de at record levels relative to world GDP, amid record levels of financial leverage, this is the moment to invest in gold mining, as the sector is actually heavily underrated.

• Even based on the portfolio theory, gold is an ideal diversification. In “normal times”, gold investments produce higher portfolio returns with less volatility.

• In these “New Normal Times” this is reinforced because gold is the only financial asset proven to be non-correlated to interest rates. When the debt bubble pops this non-correlation will hedge every portfolio against capital losses in all other assets.

• Currency crisis have a habit of occurring brutally, without warning. Loss of confidence in a currency or a debt market can stay dormant du-ring long periods before they come to truism. When the loss is finally realized, the chaos that evolves is abrupt just like the contingent abrupt rise in gold. A continuous minimum allocation is thus a pure matter of correct risk management in every process of wealth management. As Buffet said only when the tide goes out you, can see who is swimming naked.

• Gold and its mines are surely a good candidate for the most under owned, most unloved asset. Hence an opportunity.

• Gold is the only asset on central bank balance sheets besides credit claims.

• Gold is money (and everything else is credit).


OCTOBER 2015

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... GOLD IS MONEY (AND EVERYTHING ELSE IS CREDIT)

JP Morgan’s testimony in 1912 before the US Congress at the wise age of 75: Money is gold, and nothing else.If a man had the credit, and I had the money, his customer would be badly off.

And on the question (If a man controlled the credit of a country, he would have a control of all its affairs?) JP Morgens Answer:He might have that, but he would not have the money. If he had the credit and I had the money, his customer would be badly of.

Carl Menger (The Origin of Money, 1892), founder of the Austrian school of economics, was the first to explain why gold is money:“ When any one has brought goods not highly liquid to market, the idea uppermost in his mind is to exchange them, not only for such as he happens to be in need of, but, if this cannot be effected directly, for other goods also, which, while he did not want them himself, were nevertheless more liquid than his own. By so doing he certainly does not attain at once the final object of his trafficking, to wit, the acquisition of goods needful to himself. Yet he draws nearer to that object. By the devious way of a mediate exchange, he gains the prospect of accomplishing his purpose more surely and econo-mically than if he had confined himself to direct exchange.”


OCTOBER 2015

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HISTORY HAS SELECTED GOLD AS MONEY, AS A MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE BECAUSE OF ITS SINGULAR LIQUIDITY CHARACTERISTICS.

• Gold is liquid in time and space. - In time: durability / storage costs / value over time / value during volatile market conditions. - In space: bid and ask spread / market depth / recognition / uniformity and divisibility / settlement costs / general acceptability.

• Gold has such a high degree of moneyness that it only loses its liquidity (temporarily) under gunpoint threat by government (the king, dictator or democratic ruler in desperate need for cash). Only under gunpoint will gold lose its liquidity and become hoarded and cashed away for fear of expropriation, hence the origin of gold treasures).

• Compared to other commodities, the true value of gold’s moneyness is evident.

Gold at an all-time low in terms of M0

Japanese and Chinese Character

as Money

as Gold } = identic

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Gold Adjusted for Monetary Base (left) Nominal Gold Price

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OCTOBER 2015

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DISCLAIMER

Note : This report is not directed to, or intended for distribution to or use by, any person or entity who is a citizen or resident of, or located in, any locality, state, country or other jurisdiction where such distribution, publication, availability or use would be contrary to law or regulation. Additional information is available upon request.

The information, tools and material presented in this document are provided for information purposes only and are not to be used or conside-red as an offer or solicitation to buy, sell or subscribe any securities or other financial instruments. Past performance should not be taken as an indication or guarantee of future performance and no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, is made by “iW” regarding future per-formance. Information found in this report has been prepared based on information provided by various financial sources. Information usually attributable to a unique specific source is quoted whenever such information is available. Otherwise, the information may have been gathered from public news dissemination services such as Bloomberg, Reuters or any news services.

Information and opinions presented by “iW” have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, and, although all reasonable care has been taken, “iW” is not able to make any representation as to its accuracy or completeness. Accordingly, “iW” accepts no liability for loss arising from the use of this document presented for information purposes only. “iW” has no obligation to update, modify or amend this report or otherwise notify a reader thereof in the event that any matter stated herein becomes inaccurate.

INVESTMENT RESTRICTIONS

Exclusive investment for qualified TARGET INVESTORS:

(i) Institutional & professional investors

(ii) Business owners

(iii) Well informed private investors - High & UHNW individuals

Minimum initial investment : € 125 000,-

Physical GoldBullion Coins & Bars

Personal Possession - Vaul Storage - Mint Certi�cates - Cash

Size of Portfolio Allocation

Risk / R

ewar

d inc

reasin

g

Gold ProducersSmall - Mid-Tier - Major

JuniorGold

ExplorersEarly Stage

Advanced Stage

Speculation

Investment

Portfolio Base

© iw-partners.com


OCTOBER 2015

iW PARTNERS

HOW TO REACH US

Tel: +352 250 750 260Fax: +352 250 750 [email protected]

IW TEAM

Cédric MARCHAL / [email protected] in 1974, has already more than 20 years’ experience in financial matters, especially in private equity. During the ye-ars, he has contributed to the development of numerous economic and commercial projects in Europe, becoming quite an expert in these fields, while building a network of HNW and UHNW individuals in several countries. In 2003, he and Ingo HEPP founded the “iW” company, a professional adventure that would lead to the current struc-ture. Today he attends the investment committees and supervises the development strategies of the company.Cédric MARCHAL holds a Master in Administration and Management, a university degree in economic sciences and graduated in marketing management.

Ingo HEPP / [email protected] in 1976, started his professional experience in 1998, when he joined the trading room at “RIGA & Cie”, DE-GROOF group. Year after year his expertise grew and enabled him to obtain the necessary certificates and become a mar-ket maker for the EURONEXT and Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In 2003, he founded with Cédric MARCHAL the “iW” company, in which he worked as an authorized representative for PE- TERCAM (Belgium). As of 2005, he acted as an “Institutional Advisor” for several funds, with a focus on raw materials and precious metals.In 2012 he founded a SIF (specialized investment funds) as investment manager, authorized by the CSSF. He also accep-ted a 24-month mission as administrator for BELLATRIX ASSET MANAGEMENT, an investment company based in Luxemburg.Today, Ingo HEPP, as Managing Director, is channeling all his energies in supervising the investment management of the iW investment funds and directing the development of the company’s future activities.

Jean-Charles de le COURT / [email protected] in 1969, has joined the board of iW in 2012 as risk manager. In 2014 he incorporated the fund-of-funds (Apis Lucro-sa Ltd.) he set up and manages since 2005 for a group of families and continues to act as its investment manager. From 2002 to 2006 he was senior portfolio manager at PETERCAM in Brussels, where he set up and managed the open-archi-tecture products. During the late ‚90s, Jean-Charles de le COURT was senior manager of the awarded bond, money market and mixed funds of the KBL-EPB Group in Luxembourg. Jean-Charles de le COURT holds a Master Degree in Economics from the Namur University and a post-graduate degree in International Relations from the University of Vienna.


OCTOBER 2015

iW PARTNERS

IW TEAM

Marc SYX / [email protected] in 1956, has more than 21 years’ experience in the financial markets. He worked as an authorized representative in “RIGA & Cie”, a stock exchange company that was later acquired by DEGROOF bank .From 2003 to 2009, he worked as a consultant for the iW company that was founded by Ingo HEPP and Cédric MARCHAL. He joined the team as a full time partner in 2010. At the same time, he accepted an 18 month mission as the “Head of the Invest-ment Committee” for BELLATRIX ASSET MANAGEMENT.Today, among other things, Marc SYX is responsible for the macroeconomic analysis and the asset allocation of the iW ALTER-NATIVE funds.

Nathanaël SYX / [email protected] born in 1985. He completed a Master in Business Administration at the Universidad del Norte Santo Tomás de Aqui-no (Argentina) in 2010. Before joining the iW team in 2011, he had worked for one year as a Junior Administrator in private equity and real estate. In 2013, he obtained the certificate of Financial Risk Manager (certified by the Global Asso-ciation of Risk Professionals) and carries on with his training. He already passed his third level CFA exam. Nathanaël SYX will soon work as “Risk Manager” in the company.

Christian BERTRAND / [email protected] in 1959, Christian has more than 25 years’ experience in the private banking and asset management industries. Chris-tian started his career in Luxembourg in 1987 as an IT Officer with CECG, a local investment firm. He became later the CEO of CECG. In 1999, Christian was hired by Petercam (Luxembourg) SA in order to join the Management Board of that Luxembourg based investment firm. As a member of different fund’s BoD and, later, as a conducting officer for diffe-rent self-managed UCITS, he build a strong expertise in the asset management business. In 2010, Christian was given the opportunity to take the lead on the Petercam fund administration department as a member of the Petercam Institutional AM Executive Committee. Within the Petercam Group, Christian successfully supervised different projects as, among others, the IT migration of the Luxembourg private banking business line, the fund administration outsourcing to the CACEIS Group and the launch of the Luxembourg management company.

Christian who joined the iW Team in January 2015 is in charge of the structuring of iW Alternative General Partner sàrl (« iW GP») as a UCI management company and is responsible for the third party funds business line.

Christian holds a Master Degree in mathematics (University of Liège) and a Master Degree in IT sciences (University of Liège).

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