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从慈善晚宴标王到股神新接班人

从慈善晚宴标王到股神新接班人

Carol J. Loomis 2011-09-16
伯克希尔哈撒韦投资团队的最新成员以一种令人惊奇的方式赢得了沃伦•巴菲特的注意。用金钱来衡量,这份新工作前后花了他5,252,722美元。

    居中者为泰德•韦斯切勒

    为了得到一份差事而花费5,252,722美元,这恐怕是前所未见的大手笔,有趣的是,某种程度上说家住弗吉尼亚州夏律第镇的泰德•韦斯切勒正是这么做的。这一令人难以置信的故事的细节如下:

    沃伦•巴菲特今天早上宣布,韦斯切勒很快将加盟伯克希尔哈撒韦(Berkshire Hathaway),负责该公司部分投资的管理。韦斯切勒现年50岁,是对冲基金半岛资本顾问(Peninsula Capital Advisors)的管理合伙人,投资业绩非常成功。与去年招聘托德•康姆斯一样,该举措旨在使投资巨鳄伯克希尔为日后发展做好准备——巴菲特刚刚度过了81岁生日,不可能永远执掌该公司的投资。

    韦斯切勒是如何结识巴菲特的呢?事实有时候比小说还要怪诞。

    巴菲特每年都会举行一场慈善拍卖,出价最高者有权与巴菲特共进午餐,拍卖所得一律捐给旧金山教会及慈善组织Glide。

    2000年第一场慈善午餐会的赢家给Glide带来了2.5万美元善款,此后这一金额节节高涨。2010年,一位匿名人士花了2,626,311巨资赢得竞拍,震惊世人。

    今年,一位竞拍者又把中标价拉高了100美元,达到2,626,411美元,他同样要求匿名。

    根据现在首次公布的一系列事件,真相终于大白:两年中赢得竞拍的都是韦斯切勒。

    由于不想引人注意,两年中他都不愿意在纽约与巴菲特共进午餐,尽管传统上午餐会都在那儿的史密斯沃伦斯基(Smith & Wollensky)牛排馆进行——该店慷慨地将餐费也捐赠给了Glide。

    相反,根据韦斯切勒的要求,这两年的午餐会(事实上变成了晚餐)都转移到了奥马哈进行。具体地点仍由巴菲特选择,是他最喜欢的餐馆之一Piccolo's(该店的气氛相当随意)。

    2010年7月,两人为了这顿价值2,626,311的晚餐见了面,彼此马上就看对了眼。巴菲特也了解到了韦斯切勒的投资业绩,以及他获得这一业绩的方法——对巴菲特来说,“方法”与业绩本身一样重要。

    在巴菲特的邀请下,韦斯切勒随后参加了今年春季的伯克希尔哈撒韦2011年度股东大会。在大会当晚的大型私人聚餐中,他向笔者介绍了自己,给笔者留下了聪明而又和善的好印象,还自称他在那里颇为开心。

    此后,在今年7月26日举行的Glide晚餐会上,巴菲特试探了韦斯切勒是否有意加盟伯克希尔,但不抱太大希望,对此还颇为遗憾。“我非常希望他能加盟,但对这个想法我也不抱很大希望,”巴菲特向《财富》杂志(Fortune)表示,“为伯克希尔效力毫无疑问能让泰德挣到很多钱,可他管理自己的基金所获收入已经很高了——从他参加Glide竞拍的出价就能看出这一点——因此金钱并非他决定加盟的动力。”

    尽管如此,韦斯切勒立即表示他会认真考虑,而且在几个周内就得出结论:他愿意接受巴菲特的邀请。截至目前,韦斯切勒尚未向媒体解释他的考量,但笔者揣测,韦斯切勒长期以来对巴菲特的崇拜起了很大作用,因此他难以拒绝这一邀请。

    他的决定当然会影响到很多人。他会关闭自己的基金。很多合伙人一向对他的投资业绩很满意,对他们来说这恐怕不是好消息。

    韦斯切勒从沃顿商学院(Wharton)获得学士学位后,曾在格雷斯(W.R. Grace)公司工作了六年,并参与了弗吉尼亚私募股权基金Quad-C的创立,随后在12年前启动了半岛基金。Quad-C主要从事收购业务,但也持有不少合伙人的资金,韦斯切勒用这些资金进行投资,取得了很好的业绩。

    1999年,他决定单干,于是创立了半岛资本顾问。根据该基金向美国证券交易委员会(SEC)提交的第一份13F报表(反映2000年底时的情况)显示,他持有的股票价值1.5亿美元。当时,韦斯切勒已经向公众进行了两次募资。

    他最新一次申报反映了2011年第二季度的情况,显示股票仓位价值近20亿美元。(如果韦斯切勒在2004-2005年间没有锁定基金,停止募集资金,这一数字毫无疑问将更为庞大。)

    而且,这一20亿美元股票仓位只反映了部分情况,因为与其他对冲基金管理人一样:韦斯切勒还做空股票(这些仓位不必在13F报表中申报),并借款在基金资本的基础上进行杠杆操作。

    韦斯切勒加入伯克希尔之后可能得停止做空交易,杠杆操作就更不用提了。伯克希尔副董事长查理•芒格一直都说,世界上多数问题都是“酒精和杠杆”造成的。

    不管怎么说,韦斯切勒执掌半岛基金期间创下了令人眼花缭乱的优异业绩,在致合伙人的信中,他将业绩与四大基准相比——不仅是与通常的道琼斯工业平均指数或标普500比较,甚至让伯克希尔B级股的表现也相形失色。

    对于那些在2000年初投资于半岛基金合伙人,截至2011年第一季度,其投资回报率总计高达1236%(我知道这个数字太大了,看起来像是打错了小数点,但它没错),与此形成鲜明对比的是,伯克希尔B类股只涨了146%。

    韦斯切勒的投资风格是只买入少数几支股票,然后长期持有——这套行事方法肯定帮他赢得了巴菲特的赞赏,因为后者也奉行这一投资风格。半岛基金最新的13F报表反映了截至6月份的第二季度持股情况,报表显示,该基金只持有区区9支股票。

    三大重仓股分别是格雷斯(4.12亿美元)、DaVita(3.68亿美元)和DirectTV(3.28亿美元),DaVita运营肾透析中心,格雷斯已陷入破产境地,但其股票仍在市场上活跃交易。

    至于韦斯切勒将在伯克希尔担负的职责,事实上可在该公司今年年报中巴菲特致股东的信中找到答案:与此前加盟的托德•康姆斯一样,韦斯切勒将有机会掌管10-30亿伯克希尔资金的投资,而巴菲特仍将是伯克希尔的主要投资者。

    巴菲特希望韦斯切勒几个月内就开始为伯克希尔效力,或许从明年2月份开始。韦斯切勒则向巴菲特表示,他仍将住在位于夏律第镇新建的宅邸,但会在奥马哈买下一套公寓,并计划每周在伯克希尔停留几天。

    因此,与巴菲特的私人会面很可能将成为韦斯切勒下一阶段的家常便饭,或许这意味着他不会参加今年的Glide竞拍了——不过这也说不定。

    本文作者是《财富》资深自由编辑,他持有伯克希尔哈撒韦股票,还是沃伦•巴菲特的长期好友,并义务为后者每年致股东的信函提供编辑服务。

    It is surely unprecedented for a person to spend $5,252,722 to get a job, but in a funny way, that is precisely what Ted Weschler, of Charlottesville, Virginia, did. The details, in all their improbability:

    Warren Buffett announced this morning that Weschler, 50, the highly successful managing partner of hedge fund Peninsula Capital Advisors, will soon join Berkshire Hathaway to run a portion of its investments. That move, added to the hiring of Todd Combs last year, is aimed at preparing investment-rich Berkshire for a day when Buffett, who just turned 81, will no longer be running the company's investments.

    And how did Buffett get to know Weschler? It's here that fact becomes stranger than fiction.

    Every year, Glide, a San Francisco church and mission, is the beneficiary of an auction in which the prize for the top bidder is a private lunch with Buffett.

    In the first year of the lunch, 2000, the winner donated $25,000 to Glide. The auction price then proceeded to skyrocket, and in 2010, an anonymous bidder won with an amazing $2,626,311 bid.

    Then, this year, a bidder also wishing to be anonymous won by upping that bid by $100, to $2,626,411.

    So here, in a state of affairs being disclosed publicly for the first time, is the fact: Weschler was the winning bidder in both years.

    In neither year, since he was trying to stay under the radar, did he wish to have lunch in New York, whose Smith & Wollensky steakhouse has usually hosted the lunch -- and given generously to Glide itself.

    The lunch (or dinners, as they turned out to be) were instead held in both years, at Weschler's request, in Omaha. Buffett picked the site, one of his favorite restaurants, Piccolo's (whose ambiance is pervasively casual).

    Meeting in July, 2010 for the $2,626,311 dinner, the two men liked each other right away. Buffett learned about Weschler's investment success and how he achieved it—the 'how' being as important to Buffett as the gains themselves.

    At Buffett's invitation, Weschler later came to the 2011 Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) annual meeting, held last spring. At a large private dinner on the night of the meeting, he introduced himself to this reporter, made an impression as smart and friendly, and described himself as having a great time.

    And then, at this year's Glide dinner, held July 26th, Buffett almost apologetically sounded out Weschler about the possibility of his joining Berkshire. "I very much wanted him to do it, but I didn't expect to get very far with the idea," Buffett told Fortune. "Ted will no doubt make a lot of money at Berkshire. But he was already making a lot of money with his fund -- you can get an idea of that from the size of his Glide bids -- so money wasn't a reason for him to come."

    Even so, Weschler said right away he'd think it over -- and within weeks came to the conclusion that he wanted to accept Buffett's offer. For the moment, Weschler isn't explaining his reasons to the press. But this reporter can speculate that Weschler's long-time admiration for Buffett made this an offer he just couldn't refuse.

    Certainly his saying yes has rocked many a boat. He is closing his fund, and that, for a lot of happy partners in it, cannot be good news.

    Weschler started his fund 12 years ago after getting an undergraduate degree from Wharton, working for six years at W.R. Grace, and helping to start a Virginia private equity fund, Quad-C. While that fund worked its way toward buyouts, it held the cash of its partners, and Weschler invested it, doing well in the job.

    Deciding in 1999 to strike out on his own, he started Peninsula. The fund's first 13F filing with the SEC, for yearend 2000 -- Weschler had by then opened the fund twice to investments -- shows it owned about $150 million of stocks.

    His latest filing, for the second quarter of 2011, gives his long position in stocks as almost $2 billion. (That amount would no doubt be higher, were it not that Weschler closed the fund to new money in the 2004-2005 period).

    But that $2 billion in long positions only partly tells the story, because in true hedge-fund style, Weschler shorts stocks (positions that do not have to be reported in 13Fs) and also borrows money to leverage the fund's capital.

    At Berkshire, Weschler's shorting is likely to cease and certainly leveraging will. Charlie Munger, Berkshire's vice-chairman, has long said that most of the world's ills are caused by "liquor and leverage."

    In any case, Weschler has in Peninsula's history produced a dazzling record, which in his letters to partners he compares to four benchmarks -- not only to the standard comparatives like the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500, but also to none other than Berkshire B stock.

    For partners who invested with Peninsula in early 2000, the fund at the end of 2011's first quarter had delivered a total gain of 1236% (a percentage so large it looks like a typo, but isn't). In contrast, Berkshire B had gained a mere 146%.

    Weschler's investment style has been to own only a few stocks and to stay with them -- a modus operandi sure to have endeared him to Buffett, whose style is the same. Peninsula's latest 13F filing, for the quarter ended in June, showed the fund holding 9 stocks.

    The three biggest positions were W.R. Grace ($412 million), DaVita ($368 million), and DirectTV ($328 million). DaVita runs kidney dialysis centers. W.R. Grace is in bankruptcy, but its stock trades actively in the market.

    The parameters of Weschler's about-to-be position at Berkshire were in effect spelled out in Buffett's letter in this year's annual report. Weschler (as is the case with Todd Combs) will have the opportunity to invest $1 billion to $3 billion of Berkshire's money. Buffett, meanwhile, will continue to be Berkshire's major domo investor.

    Buffett expects Weschler to begin working at Berkshire in several months, perhaps in February. Weschler has told Buffett he will keep his home (just built) in Charlottesville, but will secure an apartment in Omaha and plan to be at Berkshire several days a week.

    So private meetings with Buffett are likely to be the new norm for Weschler. Maybe that means he won't be bidding this year in the Glide auction -- or does it?

    The writer of this article, a FORTUNE senior editor-at-large, is a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder, a long-time friend of Warren Buffett's and the pro bono editor of his annual chairman's letter.

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