27th CONKERS' CORNER : 19th September 2016 : “Conkers’ Corner” speaking with Paul Kavanagh
Welcome to the 27th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on the 5th August 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with @PaulJKavanagh1 Paul Kavanagh the CEO and founder of Patronus Partner: a discerning, accessible investment management and stockbroking service that provides a comprehensive approach to investment management.
Paul grew up in Shenfield in Essex where, as a young boy doing his paper round he shrewdly noticed, “big houses took the Financial Times”. This married to his love of maths led to him being very keen to leave school without even pursuing A levels, which he was more than capable of doing. He instead took an opportunistic leap into the City of London as a sixteen year old, taking his first job with Extel Financial (EXTEL), where he started off with administration tasks. However within eight months Paul alongside colleagues in the U.S, were tasked with building a Mergers & Acquisitions (MNA) database. Having successfully put the database together his bosses tasked the then eighteen year old Paul, with selling the database and service to all the major institutions in the City of London. This led to Paul holding meetings with all the major partners in the City in the late 80’s and early 90’s. To put this into context, it would be the equivalent of a teenager holding court with a combination of the today’s Anthony Bolton, Neil Woodford and Gervais Williams and many others, on a daily basis!
Through his work with the EXTEL MNA research database, Paul ended up providing due diligence on potential acquisition opportunities. It was through this connection that he met Paul Killik and Matthew Orr, the founders of Killik & Co. He joined that firm in 1993, becoming Partner shortly after and enjoying 21 years there. During that time, the firm grew significantly and spawned other businesses including 7 Investment Management, Raymond James Investment Services and Killik Employee Share Services. Paul’s role at the firm included managing clients and assisting the build of Killik Capital, leading the research offering and providing media presence.
On a personal level Paul is a high conviction and high risk investor who prefers to invest in AIM stocks. He is often looking for special situations and trading opportunities which will provide him with significant returns. Paul has spent most of his career in the stockbroking industry. With a natural interest in stock market investing, he spent five years writing for the Sunday Times Money section, discussing over one hundred individual businesses in some detail during the 1990’s. Paul went on to be a regular contributor on the investment conference circuit and in the media with the BBC, CNBC, Bloomberg and Sky News. Paul formed Patronus Partners Ltd http://www.patronuspartners.com/ in January 2015 with two former Killik & Co colleagues, Kareem Khouri and John Prior, each of whom has extensive experience in investment management and stockbroking services.
Listen now to gain insights into how Paul invests and learn from the lessons in his successful and insightful investing journey.