OPMFlix
Serial stories by OPM Wire and some of our best and most original work.
How total outsider Liddle Mo Lidsky built and sold Prime Quadrant in under 10 years
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Objectively, what Mo Lidsky has accomplished at Prime Quadrant is remarkable. Prime Quadrant's big transformation started in 2011. Until then, the firm had been led by Ian Rosmarin and his junior partner Evan Cooperman. Evan left in January 2011. Fortunately, at the same time, a saviour by the name of
My opening salvo against Prime Quadrant
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Many people said I could never become presidential and yet I have not written anything incendiary in many months. I have pulled a complete 180, just like Trump after he won the election (the first time). Of course, I am only human, so occasionally, I will have presidential relapses. I
Burgundy Asset Management's origin myth
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If status isn't the most important thing, then why is Richard Rooney - a man with $13 million just in his foundation and the body of a Greek god - insisting on re-casting himself of late as a co-founder of Burgundy Asset Management? Hmm??? Is he really a co-founder? We’
Burgundy Asset Management downgraded to low-status
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What's the most important thing in life? Give yourself full marks if you said "status". This is why I was so alarmed when I recently came across statistics about average account sizes at Burgundy Asset Management, a firm I previously associated with blue-blood, properly wealthy Canadians. Like the billionaire Jackman
Martin Connell and the Ewing Morris dilemma
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The Ewing Morris Opportunities Fund had one of the more notable negative performances of 2020. It was still down 21.7% as of November 2020. I have already covered their struggles before here. I mentioned that fund had a $20m investor and I finally solved that mystery. It all started
Burgundy Assets Under Pressure
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Blue-blood money manager Burgundy Asset Management is in flux.
American private equity giant likely ensnared in Gary Ng's loan fraud
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Big name PE firm caught by rudimentary fraud!
Admiral Gary Ng in troubled waters: $172m loan fraud alleged by IIROC
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Explosive allegations against golden boy Gary Ng who bought PI Financial for $100m at age 34.
Jay Hennick: from pool boy to billionaire
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An under-the-radar billionaire who started from the bottom.
Reza Satchu-ration
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Possibly my last post on Reza Satchu. No promises, though.
Admiral Gary Ng sells PI Financial
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Dramatic turn in the Gary Ng story, he unloads the firm he had bought for $100m only 18 months prior.
Moez Kassam, Anson Funds
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Moez Kassam is one of the most colourful characters on Bay Street.
I've got jack squat on Gary Ng
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New twists in the Gary Ng story!
Move over Mike Katchen, Gary Ng bought PI Financial for $100m cash at age 34
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The mysterious brokerage owner Gary Ng!
That time Reza Satchu had a home in Nevada
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A little known part of the Reza Satchu story!
That time I called Reza Satchu's mom
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More interesting revelations about Reza Satchu, founder of Alignvest.
Reza Satchu: Kevin O'Leary with hair
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The myth and reality of Reza Satchu.
That time Brent Belzberg fought Imperial Capital
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A David v Goliath battle on Bay Street.
BloombergSen: fighting inequality through crappy returns
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BloombergSen, another fund with performance fees and performance issues.
John Phillips and Shopify - the biggest angel score in Canadian history
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Meet Canada's newest billionaire.
Sam Belzberg's comeback and his answer
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Start from Part 1 here. Belzberg continued to be an active and opportunistic investor. In 1992, he started Gibralt Capital as his main investment vehicle post First City. He took advantage of opportunities like the Savings and Loans crisis in the US in the 90s and distressed property in Alberta
My Bud Fox-like meeting with Sam Belzberg
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Read Part 1 here. A friend who was acquainted with Belzberg gave me a preview of the meeting. He said: “try to keep your pants on the whole time”, meaning that Sam was a charmer. We met in a small conference room along with Travis Dowle, a portfolio manager working
Sam Belzberg - That time I met Brent Belzberg's uncle
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In its short life, this newsletter has already amassed an audience bigger than Obama's inauguration. I feel the pressure to be relevant, so today I am going to write about a guy who peaked in the 80s and is no longer alive. You are going to enjoy it and fax
Move over Mike Katchen, Tye Bousada founded three separate billion dollar investment firms
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I have been telling myself I need to improve my titles, so I am proud of the one above, because it combines three clichés of business journalism: rivalry, whiz kids and billions. At OPM Wire, everything is a pissing contest, so consider the following my competitive response to Report on
Is Dave Nugent still Chief Investment Officer of Wealthsimple?
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Let me start by telling you about a pivotal event that happened at the foundation of Wealthsimple. In Canada, in order to have a license to manage discretionary money, you generally need two things: real experience in the field and an educational certification (either the CFA or a more local,
Wealthsimple's global ambitions are - to date - a flop...we have the numbers
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In 2018, Wealthsimple founder Michael Katchen penned an essay saying "Canada is bad at thinking big". Wealthsimple launched in the US in January 2017. By then, US robo-advisors had been around since 2008. So it was pretty bold of Wealthsimple to try to break into that competitive market. Let's check