Vlad Barbalat - Investing $120 Billion in Permanent Capital - [Invest Like the Best, EP.479]

And welcome everyone. I'm Patrick O'Shaughnessy and this is Invest Like the Best. This show is an open ended exploration of markets, ideas, stories, and strategies that will help you better invest both your time and your money. If you enjoy these conversations and want to go deeper, check out Colossus, our quarterly publication with in-depth profiles of the people shaping business and investing. You can find Colossus along with all of our podcasts at Colossus.com. Chick O'Shaughnessy is the CEO of Positive Sum. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Positive Some.

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. Clients of Positive Sum may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast. To learn more, visit psum.vc. Mm. My guest today is Vlad Barbolat, the chief investment officer of Liberty Mutual Investments, the one hundred and twenty billion dollar investment platform that sits within one of the largest insurance companies in the world. Vlad grew up in Soviet Moldova, came to America in 1990, and built a career that eventually led him to one of the most distinctive capital allocators seats anywhere in finance. Today we talk about how the mutual insurance structure creates a unique investment platform, what liberty looks for in a new deal or partner, and what it means to build a career and a life in a country that gave you opportunities you never would have had anywhere else. Please enjoy my great conversation with Vlad Barberat.

Glad this is gonna be a a fascinating conversation given that you sit in one of the most interesting investment seats probably in the world. I think to give people context, the right place to start is for you just to describe the platform, how much money you manage, how it's managed, to why that platform is unique and different. The seat itself is so interesting to me. And then we'll go into all the things that you've learned sitting in the seat and building the platform. But first just like ground us in what is the thing, how big is it? How does it work?

We already have this episode, so unlocking it is cheap and permanent: the full transcript, segment and word-level timestamps, and .txt, .srt, .vtt and word-level JSON downloads, as many times as you like, forever.

10 free credits is 10 episodes like this one a month. Episodes nobody has transcribed yet cost their length in hours, because we have to actually transcribe them.