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Just out of curiosity: What is the primary use for you guys of these geo intelligence services? Is it "just" regional risk assessment or what form of benefits d

• JumpCrisscross 15y ago
  Two sides; the primary rationale is defensive. If we are making an illiquid investment in say China, having Kroll investigate who has beneficial ownership of the other 85% of the firm, who in the Party are they connected to, and if anything shady is going on is useful. Additionally, given the increasing salience of macro factors in the capital markets having awareness of areas like Greece or Iran which are economically insignificant but carry the ability to effect asymmetric damage on asset prices (which traders have traditionally labeled as "exogenous" or "fat tail" scenarios) becomes critical. On the offensive side the edge mostly deriving most traders' view of geopolitics as an exogenous risk. We were favourably positioned for the fallout in Libya, culminating in a life-changing trade where we syndicated oil being sold by the rebels in Benghazi. The risks in that deal were too high if you approached it at day zero. We were willing to commit since we had been watching that market since January.