Francisco Garcia Parames
FOLLOWCobas Asset Management
Spain's top deep value investor with a 21-year 15%+ track record at Bestinver, now running Cobas — strong philosophy alignment on downside protection but explicitly avoids technology and has zero AGI framework.
European Value Investors
Score Breakdown
Investment Philosophy & Portfolio Style
Philosophy
Parames is a deep value investor in the classic Graham-Buffett tradition, with a European focus: (1) Buy companies trading at significant discounts to intrinsic value (30-40% margin of safety); (2) Intrinsic value is calculated primarily through normalized earnings, replacement cost of assets, and sum-of-parts analysis; (3) Contrarian — willing to invest in deeply out-of-favor sectors and geographies (energy, shipping, commodities, Southern European companies); (4) Long-term holding horizon — typically 3-5 years for value to be realized; (5) Influenced by Austrian economics — skeptical of government intervention, monetary policy, and fiat currency; (6) Focus on tangible assets and real-world businesses over technology and intangibles; (7) International diversification — invests across Europe and globally, not just Spain; (8) Avoids highly leveraged companies and those dependent on a single product or technology. He explicitly values simplicity and has stated he prefers businesses he can analyze with a calculator rather than a computer.
Portfolio Style
Moderately concentrated. Cobas funds typically hold 30-50 positions, with the top 10 representing 40-50% of the portfolio. Geographic focus is primarily European, with significant exposure to international companies. Sector preferences skew heavily toward tangible-asset businesses: energy (oil and gas, shipping, commodities), industrials, financials (European banks and insurers), and consumer businesses. He explicitly avoids or underweights technology, which has been a significant performance headwind in recent years. The Cobas Internacional fund is his flagship, investing globally excluding Spain/Portugal. Cobas Seleccion is the combined Iberian + international fund. Turnover is moderate — he holds positions for years but will sell when intrinsic value is reached.
Background
Francisco Garcia Parames (born 1963) is a Spanish value investor widely considered the 'Warren Buffett of Spain' and one of Europe's most accomplished deep value investors. He managed Bestinver, Spain's largest independent asset manager, from 1993 to 2014, delivering approximately 15-16% annualized returns over 21 years — one of the best track records in European fund management. He left Bestinver in 2014 after a dispute with the Acciona family (Bestinver's owners) and founded Cobas Asset Management in 2017, raising over EUR 1.5 billion at launch based on his reputation alone. He authored 'Investing for the Long Term' ('Invirtiendo a Largo Plazo'), a well-regarded book on value investing. Parames is deeply influenced by Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett, and the Austrian school of economics. His Cobas funds have had a difficult start, significantly underperforming from 2018-2020 before a partial recovery in 2021-2023 as value stocks rallied.
Track Record
Bestinver period (1993-2014): Exceptional. Approximately 15-16% annualized returns over 21 years, significantly outperforming European indices. He navigated the Asian crisis, dot-com bust, and 2008 crisis successfully. The Bestinver Internacional fund was one of the best-performing European equity funds over this period. He was particularly effective during the European sovereign debt crisis of 2011-2012, buying Southern European companies at distressed valuations. Cobas period (2017-present): Disappointing so far. The funds launched at a difficult time for deep value investing. 2018-2020 was brutal — the international fund lost approximately 40-50% from launch to the COVID low in March 2020, as value stocks were crushed globally. The portfolio recovered significantly in 2021-2023 as energy and commodity holdings rallied, but many investors who bought at launch are still underwater or barely break-even after 8 years. The key question is whether the Cobas period represents bad timing/style headwinds or a structural deterioration in Parames's skill.
Notable Holdings
Cobas holdings typically include: Golar LNG (LNG shipping/infrastructure), Aryzta (baked goods company — a turnaround play), Teva Pharmaceutical (generic drugs at distressed valuation), CIR/COFIDE (Italian conglomerate holding company), Babcock International (UK defense/engineering), Renault (French automaker at deep discount), International Seaways (tanker shipping), Elecnor (Spanish engineering/renewables), Semapa (Portuguese conglomerate). The portfolio is distinctly 'old economy' — shipping, energy, industrials, European conglomerates trading at discounts to NAV. Very little technology exposure. These are classic deep value positions: out-of-favor companies in unfashionable sectors with tangible assets providing downside protection.
Transparency & Integrity
Transparency(Score: 8/10)
High transparency. Parames publishes detailed quarterly letters explaining his positioning, individual stock theses, and portfolio changes. Cobas provides clear factsheets with full top holdings disclosed. His book 'Investing for the Long Term' is remarkably transparent about his process, mistakes, and thinking. He gives regular interviews and presentations at value investing conferences (notably the Spanish value investing community around Cobas/Bestinver). He is candid about the difficult Cobas performance and has not tried to hide or spin the underperformance. His investor letters are thoughtful and substantive, comparable in quality to the best US value investor letters.
Integrity(Score: 9/10)
High integrity. Parames has a very significant personal investment in Cobas funds — he has stated publicly that essentially all of his liquid net worth is invested alongside his clients. This is the strongest possible alignment of interests. He left Bestinver on principle (disagreement with owners over business direction) rather than compromise his investment approach. His fee structure at Cobas includes a performance fee, but the base fee is reasonable by European standards. No scandals, regulatory issues, or ethical concerns throughout his 30+ year career. He has been honest about Cobas's disappointing performance. His Austrian economics influence gives him a philosophical framework that values honest money and property rights. He is widely respected in the European value investing community for his integrity.
Relevance to Us
High relevance — probably the most relevant investor in this group to our philosophy. Key alignment: (1) Deep value with margin of safety — his 30-40% discount requirement mirrors our floor price methodology; (2) Focus on tangible assets and downside protection — very similar to our emphasis on 'little chance of losing money'; (3) Contrarian, willing to be uncomfortable and out of consensus; (4) Long-term holding horizon; (5) Personal capital invested alongside clients — strong alignment; (6) Thoughtful, transparent investor letters worth reading; (7) His book is directly relevant to our approach. Key differences: (1) His technology avoidance is a significant gap — in an AGI world, ignoring technology is potentially dangerous; (2) His Austrian economics framework, while intellectually interesting, may create blind spots about government-influenced sectors; (3) His Cobas performance has been disappointing, raising questions about whether deep value in tangible assets is a permanently impaired strategy in a technology-driven world; (4) No AGI awareness whatsoever — he explicitly prefers businesses analyzable with a calculator, which may miss the biggest value creation/destruction wave in history. Despite these gaps, his process and discipline are worth studying closely.