Our Philosophy
We believe the most durable returns are not built through the relentless churn of transactions, but through the patient accumulation of fundamentally excellent businesses — owned permanently, managed with integrity.
Foundations
Stratelis was founded on a simple but demanding belief: that extraordinary long-term returns are the natural consequence of buying wonderful businesses at fair prices, partnering with exceptional people, and refusing to sell simply because markets are anxious.
This is not a passive strategy. It demands intellectual rigour, the courage to act decisively when opportunity arises, and the discipline to remain inactive when it does not. Most of investing is waiting. We are built to wait well.
We are not constrained by quarterly performance windows, fund lifecycles, or the pressure to deploy capital for its own sake. Our mandate is absolute return over the longest horizon — compounding quietly, relentlessly, across market cycles.
Our Core Beliefs
We buy pieces of businesses, not price charts. Every investment begins with a fundamental understanding of the enterprise — its competitive dynamics, economics, and the durability of its advantage.
Market price is information about sentiment, not a verdict on intrinsic value. We exploit the gap between the two — buying fear, holding through noise, and selling only when intrinsic value has been realised or exceeded.
No matter how confident we are, we insist on buying at a discount to our most conservative estimate of intrinsic value. This single discipline has saved more capital than any other.
Investment Tenets
These principles are not aspirational — they are operational. Every investment decision at Stratelis is evaluated against them.
We invest only where competitive advantage is structural and defensible over decades — not temporary. Network effects, high switching costs, cost leadership through scale, and intangible assets such as brand, regulatory positioning, or proprietary IP. The moat must be wide enough to resist both imitation and technological disruption over our holding horizon.
Capital allocation skill is the highest expression of management quality. We partner with operators who think like owners, act with integrity, allocate capital rationally, and communicate honestly — including when results disappoint. We prefer management with meaningful skin in the game and a demonstrated history of compounding value across cycles.
A great business bought at a terrible price is a poor investment. We are rigorous about valuation and willing to wait years for a business we admire to reach a price we can justify. Time is our ally; overpayment is not recoverable. We target situations where we are paid to wait — through dividends, buybacks, or organic compounding — while the market eventually recognises value.
Diversification is protection against ignorance. Where we have genuine insight, we size accordingly. A portfolio of 15–25 carefully selected positions allows us to conduct real due diligence, maintain meaningful oversight, and benefit fully when our thesis plays out. We do not diversify away our best ideas.
We will not sell a wonderful business simply because time has passed or markets have changed. Our structure is designed to avoid forced liquidity — we hold until the investment thesis is fully realised, fundamentals deteriorate, or a clearly superior opportunity demands reallocation. Inactivity in a great business is almost always the correct decision.
Excellence does not respect borders. Our mandate is global — we pursue exceptional businesses wherever they exist, including in markets that are misunderstood, overlooked, or temporarily out of favour. Some of our most compelling opportunities arise from geographic and sector dislocations where institutional consensus has created temporary mispricing.
"An investor who can sit quietly, think independently, and act only when the odds are overwhelmingly in their favour will always outperform those who confuse activity with progress."
Stratelis Capital — Investment Principles