| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| 13.1% | - | 0.6% |
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.6% | 4.1% | 13.1% | -6.3% | 27.7% | 15.5% |
Olesen Value Fund employs a bottom-up fundamental value investing approach inspired by Warren Buffett, focusing on three key areas: neglected micro and small cap securities, contrarian investments, and event-driven special situations. The fund seeks good, proven businesses with strong balance sheets trading below estimated intrinsic value due to being out of favor for non-rational reasons or neglected by Wall Street due to low liquidity or small size. With a highly focused portfolio of typically 10-20 positions, the strategy capitalizes on systematic opportunities where few large or sophisticated investors compete. The fund maintains an unconstrained global mandate across developed markets, with no leverage and primarily long-only positions. Since inception in December 2008, the fund has delivered 715% cumulative returns (13.1% annualized) net of fees versus 573% (11.8% annualized) for the MSCI All Country World Index. The manager has 100% of his investable assets invested in the fund, aligning interests with investors while maintaining a disciplined approach to risk management through margin of safety and intelligent diversification.
Bottom-up fundamental value investing focusing on neglected micro and small cap securities and contrarian investments trading below intrinsic value due to being out of favor or neglected by Wall Street.
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| Date | Letter | Tickers | Keywords | Pitches | Quick Takes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 23 2026 | 2025 Q4 | JPM, MN, VTU.L | contrarian, global, Long-only, Micro Cap, small caps, value |
MN JPM VTU LN |
Fund focuses on bottom-up fundamental value investing inspired by Warren Buffett, seeking good proven businesses with strong balance sheets trading below intrinsic value. Manager looks… |
| Oct 29 2025 | 2025 Q3 | JPM, MN, VTU, WHZT | arbitrage, contrarian, small caps, special situations, Value Investing | VTU LN | Olesen Value Fund continues its disciplined, unconstrained value strategy, emphasizing neglected micro and small caps, contrarian opportunities, and special situations. The manager highlights examples like… |
| Aug 20 2025 | 2025 Q2 | JPM, MN, VTU, WHZT | asset backing, downside protection, Intrinsic Value, Patience, value |
MN JPM VTU LN |
The letter focuses on concentrated value investing in businesses trading well below intrinsic value due to neglect or temporary issues. Management emphasizes downside protection through… |
| Apr 15 2025 | 2025 Q1 | C | - | - | - |
| Jan 20 2025 | 2024 Q4 | ACKB BB | - | - | - |
| Oct 18 2024 | 2024 Q3 | BWY LN | - | - | - |
| Dec 10 2023 | 2023 Q3 | - | - | - | - |
| QUARTER | THEMES | TAGS |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 |
Small CapsThe fund invests in a portfolio of competitively advantaged small and medium-sized businesses, which remained out of favor for most of the quarter. The strategy of owning leading small-cap businesses has been the foundation since inception, delivering 354 basis points of annual outperformance over the benchmark since inception despite recent headwinds. |
Growth Outperformance Benchmark Russell Businesses |
ValueManager emphasizes investing in controlled companies trading at significant discounts to NAV, with European holding companies showing discounts of 30-68%. The strategy focuses on securities mispricing where real value exists, contrasting with overvalued technology stocks. |
Discounts NAV Mispricing Undervalued Controlled | |
| 2025 Q3 |
ArbitrageThe arbitrage and opportunistic book contributed approximately one-third of total gross returns, with activity spread across single-name catalyst shorts, merger arbitrage, and volatility positions. Notable contributors included Core Scientific/CoreWeave merger arbitrage adding +550 basis points and a long-volatility position in Alphabet contributing +630 basis points. |
Merger arbitrage Volatility Catalyst Opportunistic Trading |
Contrarian |
||
Small CapsThe fund invests in a portfolio of competitively advantaged small and medium-sized businesses, which remained out of favor for most of the quarter. The strategy of owning leading small-cap businesses has been the foundation since inception, delivering 354 basis points of annual outperformance over the benchmark since inception despite recent headwinds. |
Growth Outperformance Benchmark Russell Businesses | |
Special SituationsPortfolio heavily focused on merger arbitrage, sales processes, and corporate actions including Golden Entertainment PropCo OpCo split, Sotherly Hotels buyout with preferred conversion arbitrage, and Mount Logan Capital tender offer. |
Merger Arbitrage Sales Process Tender Offer Corporate Actions Conversion | |
ValueThe manager continues to find attractive value opportunities despite expensive markets, purchasing undervalued companies like Centene, GlaxoSmithKline, Carrefour and PayPal trading at low multiples with strong fundamentals. |
Undervalued Low Multiples Contrarian Opportunistic | |
| 2025 Q2 |
ValueThe manager continues to find attractive value opportunities despite expensive markets, purchasing undervalued companies like Centene, GlaxoSmithKline, Carrefour and PayPal trading at low multiples with strong fundamentals. |
Undervalued Low Multiples Contrarian Opportunistic |
| Date | Pitch Type | Author | Ticker | Company | Industry | Sub Industry | Bull / Bear | Exchange | Keywords | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 29, 2025 | Fund Letters | Christian Olesen | VTU LN | Vertu Motors plc | Consumer Discretionary | Automotive Retail | Bear | NYSE | Auto retail, Brexit, capital recycling, execution risk, Margins, turnaround | Login |
| Aug 20, 2025 | Fund Letters | Christian Olesen | MN | Manning & Napier, Inc. | Financials | Asset Management & Custody Banks | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Assetmanagement, buybacks, financials, Microcaps, turnaround, Value | Login |
| Aug 20, 2025 | Fund Letters | Christian Olesen | JPM | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | Financials | Diversified Banks | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Banks, financials, Largecap, Quality, Value, warrants | Login |
| Aug 20, 2025 | Fund Letters | Christian Olesen | VTU LN | Vertu Motors plc | Consumer Discretionary | Specialty Stores | Bear | New York Stock Exchange | Autos, Margins, retail, Rollups, turnaround, UK | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Christian Olesen | MN | Manning & Napier Inc. | Financials | Asset Management & Custody Banks | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | buybacks, cash, Liquidation, mispricing, turnaround | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Christian Olesen | JPM | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | Financials | Diversified Banks | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Banks, contrarian, intrinsic value, Sentiment, Volatility | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Christian Olesen | VTU LN | Vertu Motors plc | Consumer Discretionary | Automobile Retailers | Bear | New York Stock Exchange | Auto retail, capital allocation, Cyclicality, execution risk, Margins | Login |
| TICKER | COMMENTARY |
|---|---|
| JPM | JPMorgan (JPM) has identified 42 AI-related stocks in the S&P 500, which today represent 45% of the index's market cap. They estimate that these stocks have accounted for 78% of S&P 500 returns, 66% of earnings growth, and 71% of capital spending growth since ChatGPT launched in November 2022. As it relates to the impact on the U.S. economy, JPM estimates tech sector capital spending contributed 40%-45% of U.S. GDP growth through the first 9 months of the year, up from less than 5% during the same period in 2023. |
| MN | Manning & Napier was an asset and wealth management firm with $22 bn in assets under management from institutional and high net worth investors, founded in 1970. Bought the stock mid-March 2020 at 42% discount to est. liquidation value when the stock price dipped sharply due to the stock market sell-off early in the pandemic. Most of the assets were excess cash not needed to support the firm's operations. The firm had always been profitable, had a very variable expense structure, and zero debt. Low price relative to liquidation value; profitable business → Low downside. Costs were bloated. New CEO. I estimated earnings would increase substantially. We paid only ~2x my estimate of annual earnings in 2-3 years → Large upside. I quickly bought additional shares in Apr 2020 immediately after the firm announced it bought back a co-founder's 77% stake at an extremely financially accretive price, using a significant portion of its huge excess cash balance, as the market did not immediately fully appreciate the enormous positive implications for the per-share intrinsic value. Sold the investment a little over one year later at 273% gain. |
| VTU.L | Bought shares in this franchised auto dealership group with approx. 100 locations across the UK, representing approx. 20 different car brands, in 2014-2015, at approx. 9x adj. EPS. Main thesis: Profit margins would gradually increase significantly as underperforming dealerships acquired in business combinations were turned around. However, the margin increase simply failed to materialize and the stock price languished as the industry was out of favor after Brexit. Re-allocated the capital invested in Vertu to another UK auto dealership group, Cambria Automobiles plc, in 2019. We lost 27% (-8.5% annualized) on our investment in Vertu. Main lesson learned: Vertu did not have a solid enough track record of turning around acquired underperforming dealerships → The investment thesis was too much conjecture. |
| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Bought | Shares Bought | % Change | Weight % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Sold | Shares Sold | % Change | Weight % | Status |
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| Industry | Prev Quarter % | Current Quarter % | Change |
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