Welcome to the Commodity Compass
The Commodity Compass is published by Alexander Stahel of Burggraben Holding. It aims to deliver in depth content, centred around the world of commodities and targeting a broad audience: from young learners to seasoned professionals and large institutions. Our research aims to be independent and thought provoking rather than following easy market narratives.
Who we are
My name is Alexander Stahel and I founded Burggraben Holding in 2014. We are a long/short equity and debt investor with a focus on commodity and asset-backed industries as well as the energy transition. We have a value-based, fundamental investment approach. I grew up in Switzerland and began my career in investment banking at SBC Warburg and later moved into private equity at Babcock & Brown.
What is my circle of competence?
Commodities and related equities. Natural resources such as crude oil, natural gas, base metals (e.g. iron ore, copper, zinc, etc), precious metals (i.e. gold, silver, platinum, palladium), uranium as well as wind & solar, commodity-related services such as shipping or offshore drilling, electricity, defence, property or retail. We strictly stick to our circle of competence. As Warren Buffett said: we are smart in pockets.
Why commodities?
Coming from a family of cotton traders, I learned early on that commodities are not for the faint hearted. They constantly overshoot and undershoot their fair value. This is because they are priced at the margin, in the here and now. Tiny changes in supply and demand will cause large price swings. Story telling won’t explain them. Hard work and data obsession will. And this is my obsession.
How do we differentiate ourselves?
We go the extra mile when assessing market cycles and individual companies. We mean that. We collect a significant amount of real-time (satellite) data to understand the cycles of energy, precious or base metal commodities as well as the structural change in the ongoing energy transition or the Chinese economy as the largest consumer of commodities globally. In a way, we are a big data company to manage cyclical opportunities and risks.
The secret sauce
In a world where attention spans have dwindled to minutes or seconds, we dedicate weeks and months to conducting original and independent research. This is not a trading blog or newsletter but our way to share fundamental proprietary research on major themes supported by factual data and in-depth analysis on a sector or company which will appear two to four times per year whenever our insights are sufficiently substantiated by data and analysis. The Commodity Compass is also a way for us to engage with our readers and lay open our detailed thinking to scrutiny and challenge.
Understanding commodity cycles is not enough in these financialised markets. This is why, over the years and with the help of external partners, we have included a macro layer to our investment approach as cyclical commodities are highly responsive to both growth and inflation numbers. This has served us well in managing market risk.
We also obsess with company fundamentals. As of June 2024, we cover more than 500 listed companies in their fundamental detail, modelling out their income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement to take a view on them under different price scenarios in order to generate alpha and manage company risks. We run a highly concentrated portfolio, at times we even take an active (private equity) approach to our publicly listed holdings in order to assure good governance.
What can you expect from this publication?
We will share with you unique, data heavy insights into commodity sectors and companies that isn’t just expensive and difficult to collect but at times hard to find too.
Finally…
Burggraben Holding is based in Zug, Switzerland, and is a FINMA authorized institutional investment vehicle. If you would like to learn more about us, please visit our Website at www.burggraben.ch.
Disclaimer
The information provided on The Commodity Compass is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult their financial advisor before making any investment decisions. The author assumes no responsibility for actions taken based on the content presented herein.
