For this issue we had the pleasure of interviewing Roland Könen from Value-Holdings International AG, a Germany-based investment company listed on the Berlin Stock Exchange with the ticker NW4.
They invest in listed companies in Germany and Europe. The company is a subsidiary of Value-Holdings AG.
Roland is responsible for research and portfolio management.
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Read the last two interviews with George Livadas (Upslope Capital Management) and Christian Ryther (Curreen Capital).
Hi Roland, thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview.
Can you please tell readers about your background, and how you personally got involved in investing?
First of all, many thanks for reaching out and giving me the opportunity for an interview with you.
My passion for investments started early in my career when I began my banking apprenticeship.
During my studies in business law, I gained further practical experience through various internships in finance, especially in the area of research and investments. Subsequently, I had the opportunity to learn the basics of equity research at Bankhaus Lampe in Düsseldorf in the area of small and mid cap research.
I deepened my knowledge of value investing when I joined Value-Holdings AG, where portfolio management was added to my core tasks. There I learned even more to dive deep into the business models and also to pay attention to the detail in the balance sheet and profit and loss account.
In invested in stocks during my first apprenticeship for the first time. It was around the time of the internet bubble. At the beginning with nice price gains in some IPOs or with investments in all kinds of “.com-companies”.
But I quickly learned that a deeper look at the business model and balance sheet would have been helpful. I guess, I did a lot of “lessons learned” at that time that helps me today. You don't have to chase every story or every hype.
Can you tell readers about Value-Holdings AG? - how many funds do you manage? and how big is the team?
Value-Holdings AG is an investment firm based in Germany, specializing in value investing, founded already in 1992, when nobody in Germany knew anything about value investing.
Value-Holdings AG invest as a portfolio manager for its own account in listed, predominantly medium-sized companies. The investments are selected exclusively according to the principles of value investing.
Furthermore, Value-Holdings AG is also responsible for the management of Value-Holdings International AG, a pure portfolio company just investing in listed European equities.
In addition, Value-Holdings AG advises institutional investors on value investing through its subsidiary Value-Holdings Capital Partners AG, according to the value investing strategy. Currently, we manage two public UCITS funds and advise other investors in value investing specially for German equities.
Our oldest fund, the Value-Holdings Deutschland Fund invests exclusively in German equities. The younger fund – the Value-Holdings Dividend Fund-, even though it has been on the market for 15 years, invests Europe-wide with an even stronger focus on high and reliable dividend payers.
We are a very small team, currently consisting mainly of the company founder Georg Geiger and myself, who are doing primarily the research and portfolio management work. However, we will expand the team in the near future.