Charles Brandes

Charles Brandes
Born 1942/1943 (age 72–73)[1]
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Residence San Diego, California
Nationality United States
Citizenship United States
Education Bucknell University
San Diego State University
Occupation Businessman, investor, philanthropist
Employer Brandes Investment Partners
Known for Manager of Brandes Investment Partners
Net worth Increase US $ 1.1 billion (April 2014)[2]
Spouse(s) Linda King Formo (1986-2004)[3]
Tanya (2006-present)[4]
Children two[1]

Charles H. Brandes is an American businessman, investor, philanthropist. He is one of the more closely followed value investors working today, and is a disciple of the Benjamin Graham school of value investing. Brandes Investment Partners, which was started in 1974, currently has over $28.9 billion under management (down from over $111 billion in 2007) and is based in San Diego, California. In the Forbes 400 Richest Americans publication for 2007, Brandes ranked 165.

Early life and education

Brandes grew up in Pittsburgh. In 1965, he graduated from Bucknell University with a bachelor's degree in economics.[5] He did graduate studies at San Diego State University.

Brandes has been a CFA charterholder for more than 25 years. Brandes met Ben Graham in San Diego while he was training to be a stockbroker. He was able to learn firsthand the techniques Graham used to determine undervalued investment securities.[1]


Career

As of 2007, Brandes' U.S. Value Equity fund has beaten the S&P 500 index for the past 5, 10 and 15 years. According to the book Investment Leadership, Brandes' Global equity fund had an average return of 19.21% over the prior 20 years. Brandes Investments strictly follows Graham and Dodd principles as outlined in the books Security Analysis and The Intelligent Investor.[6] Also recently, the firm made investments in the troubled mortgage and financial sectors, paying bargain prices for investments in Countrywide Financial, Washington Mutual, Wachovia Corp. and Bank of America. Brandes is among the largest institutional shareholder of Royal Bank of Scotland and General Motors. Thomson Financial's well-regarded Nelson's World's Best Money Managers rankings consistently lists Brandes Investment Partners among the Top 10 International Equity Fund Managers in the world.[7]

Brandes' adherence to Graham and Dodd principles has extended to investment research. He commissioned a study to investigate the "Falling Knives" strategy, the investment axiom that catching falling knives (a stock whose price has been dropping precipetously) is like catching falling money (likely to lead to losses). Researching 1,000 companies between 1986 and 2002 whose price had fallen 60% over a twelve-month period, the study found that within three years of the decline 13% of the companies went bankrupt, but despite this that the portfolio as a whole gained in value by 18% over three years.[8] Brandes published a well received book on his investment strategies in 2003 titled Value Investing Today (McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-07-141738-9).[9]

Philanthropy

The Tanya and Charles Brandes Foundation funded a scholarship program at San Diego Jewish Academy's Maimonides Upper School.[10]

Personal life

Brandes has been married three times:[11]

He lives in San Diego County in Rancho Santa Fe on 30 Acres.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The World's Billionaires (2010): #655 Charles Brandes". Forbes. March 3, 2010.
  2. Forbes The World's Billionaires: Charles Brandes April 2014
  3. Rowe, Peter (January 22, 2011). "County's richest couple battle over a fortune". Union-Tribune.
  4. Forbes profile: Charles Brandes
  5. Showley, Roger M. (June 4, 2006). "Rancho Santa Fe home is over the top, yet firmly rooted in nature". San Diego Union Tribune.
  6. Ware, James W.; Michaels, Beth; Primer, Dale (2003). Investment Leadership: Building a Winning Culture for Long-Term Success. John Wiley and Sons. p. 124. ISBN 0-471-45333-1.
  7. Mildenberg, David (October 30, 2007). "Brandes Investment firm buys stakes in Financial Sector". Bloomberg News.
  8. Maiello, Michael (2004). Buy the Rumor, Sell the Fact. McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 101. ISBN 0-07-142795-3.
  9. Brandes, Charles (2003). Value Investing Today. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-141738-9.
  10. San Diego Jewish World: "Brandes Foundation to fund SDJA scholarships" July 17, 2007
  11. 1 2 UT San Diego: "County's richest couple battle over a fortune - Rancho Santa Fe couple's divorce opens window on privileged world By Peter Rowe January 22, 2011
  12. Sign On San Diego: "Rancho Santa Fe 3-story building destroyed by fire" By Moshay Simpson August 30, 2003
  13. UT San Diego: "Divorce costs county's richest man $10M, $485,000 a month" By Peter Rowe October 4, 2011

External links

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