00:00Walk us through the nuance. What's the key difference in your view?
00:03Yeah, I mean, I think we can't...
00:05We don't really control what people call us.
00:07But the association of conglomerate is sleepy capital.
00:10Often related party transactions where certain minority shares...
00:15Certain shareholders benefit over others.
00:17That is the overhang view of conglomerates, but principally...
00:20The issue why they have a discount is sleepy capital.
00:22It just sits there. It doesn't do anything.
00:24We're already...
00:25Showing the market.
00:26We're an active manager of capital.
00:28And that's what we need to be.
00:29We need a team to do this.
00:30We need to look at our assets every single day.
00:32Does it hit our hurdle rate of returns?
00:34Is there a better...
00:35place to allocate that capital?
00:36In three years, four years, five years, is that return on capital going to decline?
00:40We need to be actively looking at every single one of our positions in a group and making this day-to-day about...
00:45We need to be actively looking at the valuation.
00:46There's always investment opportunities out there.
00:48Right.
00:49So we need to think about...
00:50Can we get...
00:50access to those opportunities?
00:51Are we the right owners of those businesses?
00:53This is just about active capital management.
00:55Of everything that we have.
00:56And we hope that the investors have seen over the past six months...
00:59We're already taking...
01:00active decisions to exit some weaker proportions of our portfolio and also reallocate...
01:05capital towards parts of our business, we're more excited about.
01:08And I guess just to close the loop on one of the...
01:10concepts there.
01:11In terms of the holding structure, the structure at which you return money to shareholders,
01:14does anything change...
01:15at the very top end of that?
01:16Or is it really how you approach or the philosophy that you take when you look at the capital?
01:20Yeah.
01:21The holding company is what it is.
01:22Right?
01:23This is something that's been there for a long time.
01:25And I think to unwind it is not a principal priority for us.
01:29Okay.
01:30But looking at...
01:30across our entire holding structure, there are inefficiencies in our holding structure.
01:34And there are things where...
01:35what we're already doing about it.
01:36You can see in our effort earlier in September to privatize Mandarin Ori...
01:40this is a perfect example of this.
01:4288% owned by Jardines, 12% owned by Jardines.
01:4580% owned by minority shareholders.
01:47Very little public float.
01:48We could triple the earnings...
01:50because of this business, the stock would barely move.
01:52It is absolutely wrong to have that business in a public...
01:55domain.
01:56It's why we basically sprinted to take that company into the privatization.
02:00And we feel so excited to work with Laurent Kleinman and his senior management team.
02:05to build that business over the next four to five years...
02:07and give them the chance to realize the equity return.
02:10that business deserves.
02:11It would never be able to do that under a public ownership.
02:14And...
02:15Would that be the same philosophy across your portfolio when you look at the most tight...
02:20company held of your holdings?
02:22Do you...
02:23Is that the approach to go that you might...
02:25look...
02:26Is the orientation to privatize those that are as tightly held?
02:28It's a great question.
02:29Uh...
02:30But...
02:31I would say...
02:32We are always looking at that.
02:33Okay.
02:34But don't assume we will use the same tools.
02:35Right.
02:36Okay.
02:37In terms of the cadence at which you're turning over your capital in the portfolio...
02:40will the next few years see a lot more frequent moves than the last...
02:45How do you look at that?
02:46Um...
02:47How do you look at that?
02:48It's hard to actually predict but as a person who...
02:50worked in private capital for the past decade...
02:52Yeah.
02:53You're always...
02:54Kind of behind.
02:55Okay.
02:55That's how I kind of wake up every day.
02:56It's like look...
02:57Are we doing enough for our business?
02:58Are we driving our business hard enough?
03:00Right.
03:01So there's not like a...
03:02Let's do one thing a quarter.
03:03Right?
03:04We should do everything that we should.
03:05Every quarter that we can.
03:06Right?
03:07And that's my mindset toward taking over that's this business.
03:09It's like...
03:10It's not...
03:11We should always be trying to do more.
03:12We should be always trying to push returns in our business.
03:14And the fact that...
03:15The holding company that's put it that way has been around for generations just underscores
03:19the fact that it's remained...
03:20relevant through the times.
03:21And when you look at...
03:22Not to say that they're not valuable businesses because they are...
03:25But is there an orientation to look at the...
03:30portfolio and maybe increase the amount of new economy for companies in there?
03:34How do you look at that?
03:35So I think without getting too specific at this point...
03:38What we have is already a very, very large...
03:40asset base.
03:41David, you and I wanted to start a new investment firm today.
03:43We had a...
03:44We just had money.
03:45Right.
03:45I wanted to just be starting to look at things like AI data centers because those are clear
03:48growth drivers in Asia.
03:49I need...
03:50I need to think about that.
03:51But I also need to think about the types of assets we have in our portfolio.
03:55Today, Jardines is very overweight.
03:57A portfolio that's Hong Kong, Southeast.
04:00Asia.
04:01It's very...
04:02It is very overweight, heavy asset industries.
04:04So, as I...
04:05When I think about managing our portfolio, the first thing I wake up and thinking about
04:08is not new industry...
04:10It is mixing the types of returns we get from the capital we have in play.
04:14Like we're looking...
04:15We're looking for balanced return.
04:16We're not looking for spikes up and down.
04:18If you see what we're going to try to do...
04:20And Jardines over the next five years, it is steady increase of dividend per share.
04:24It is steady...
04:25It is steady increase of our over-earnings and a recycling of lower quality earnings
04:29and a higher quality earnings.
04:30What that is and what industry you have to see.
04:32And how you do that is going to be interesting.
04:33But yeah, it's increasing the dividend.
04:34Yeah.
04:35And...
04:36Yeah.
04:37Yeah.
04:38Yeah.
04:39Yeah.
04:40Yeah.
04:41Yeah.
04:42Yeah.
04:43Yeah.
04:44Yeah.
04:45Yeah.
04:46Yeah.
04:47Yeah.
04:48Yeah.
04:49Yeah.
04:50Yeah.
04:51Yeah.
04:52Yeah.
04:53Yeah.
04:54Yeah.
04:55Yeah.
04:56Yeah.
04:57Yeah.
04:58Yeah.
04:59Yeah.
05:00Yeah.
05:01Yeah.
05:02Yeah.
05:03Yeah.
05:04Yeah.
05:05Yeah.
05:06Yeah.
05:07Yeah.
05:08Yeah.
05:09Yeah.
05:10Yeah.
05:11Yeah.
05:12Yeah.
05:13Yeah.
05:14Yeah.
05:15Yeah.
05:16Yeah.
05:17Yeah.
05:18Yeah.
05:19Yeah.
05:20Yeah.
05:21Yeah.
05:22Yeah.
05:23Yeah.
05:24Yeah.
05:25Yeah.
05:26Yeah.
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