{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Alt Goes Mainstream: The Latest on Alternative Investments, WealthTech, & Private Markets","title":"Davidson Kempner’s James Li - “no situation is too complex”","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3524,"description":"Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.\nToday’s podcast takes us to the heart of New York City to talk with James Li, the President and Partner of Davidson Kempner, a firm that was an early participant in the merger arbitrage, distressed debt, and opportunistic credit industries.\nDavidson Kempner’s heritage lies in cutting through complexity to find value.\nFounded in 1983, Davidson Kempner’s origins began in merger arbitrage, distressed debt, and opportunistic credit. The firm, which now has around 1,800 clients, began accepting outside capital in 1987 and has since built out its investment platform to include convertible arbitrage, long / short equities, asset-based lending, and real estate strategies.\nDavidson Kempner has since grown to almost $40B in AUM across public and private markets strategies.\nThe firm has a penchant for navigating complex situations across public and private markets to opportunistically uncover value, noting that “no situation is too complex for [them].” \nJames unpacked how the firm’s family office DNA has evolved across three generations of leadership into a scaled investment platform across public and private markets to inform the firm’s relative value investing perspective.\nJames and I had a fascinating conversation on a number of pressing topics at the intersection of public and private markets. We covered:\nHow do public market feedback loops inform private market investments?\nHow post-GFC growth in private equity has created “indigestion” in the system.\nWhat the current state of private equity means for capital solutions opportunities.\nWhy distressed and opportunistic credit can be countercyclical.\nWhat it means to be a relative value investor and how Davidson Kempner navigates different sectors, markets, geographies, and asset classes.\nWhat deglobalization means for investing in private markets.\nWhy are allocators shifting toward absolute return strategies?\nHow Davidson Kempner’s family office DNA has informed how they...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/AFAZ1vkAT92lFJtqt-r0HeFQ55KTdcbJHmgKXaMlAtY/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzE5MDA4LzE2MTQ1/Mzk1MDUtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}