In this episode, Rich Howe interviews Derek Pilecki of Gator Capital.

We discuss how Derek approaches spin-offs in the financial sector. He shares lessons learned from Jackson Financial (JXN), BBX Capital (BBXIA), Virtis Investment Partners (VRTS), and Voya Financial (VOYA).

0:54 – How Derek founded Gator Capital

4:40 – Gator Capital current AUM

5:40 – What it was like to start a financials focused hedge fund right before the Great Financial Crisis

7:40 – If Derek had to start his hedge fund from scratch, he would do this differently

10:00 – How Derek Approaches investing in spin-offs

12:45 – Derek’s Jackson Financial (JXN) thesis

17:17 – Is Jackson Financial a “Black Box”?

19:38 – Spin-offs and paired trades

21:54 – Derek shares his BBX Capital investment thesis?

23:36 – Corporate governance at BBX Capital

24:36 – Why Derek is expecting a tender offer for BBXIA relatively soon

27:23 – How Derek uses barebones technical analysis.

31:25 – What was Derek’s thesis with Virtis Investment Partners (VRTS)?

36:16 – Derek shares his Voya Financial (VOYA) investment case?

38:46 – Why weren’t investors interested in the VOYA IPO?

40:18 – Why Derek view secondary share overhangs as nonevents

41:30 – Derek walks through the Primerica IPO from Citigroup and how it was an attractive setup