Jean-Marie Eveillard
FOLLOWFirst Eagle Investments (retired)
Legendary capital preservation-first value investor whose tech bubble discipline and 'lose shareholders not their money' philosophy is a masterclass in integrity.
International Value Investors
Score Breakdown
Investment Philosophy & Portfolio Style
Philosophy
Eveillard is a Graham-and-Dodd value investor of the purest type, applied globally. His core principles: (1) Margin of safety above all — he would rather miss an opportunity than risk permanent loss of capital. His famous quote: 'I would rather lose half my shareholders than lose half my shareholders' money.' (2) Absolute return orientation — he never benchmarked against indices, focusing solely on preserving and growing capital in real terms. (3) Gold as portfolio insurance — he pioneered the use of gold and gold mining stocks as a hedge within an equity fund, a practice continued by his successors. (4) Willingness to hold cash — during the late 1990s tech bubble, he held up to 20-30% cash rather than invest in overvalued securities. This caused massive redemptions and underperformance but proved spectacularly right when the bubble burst. (5) Global, unconstrained investing — he invested wherever he found value, with no geographic or sector constraints. (6) Long-term horizon — holding periods of 5-10 years were common. (7) Focus on balance sheet strength and tangible assets. (8) Deep skepticism of financial engineering and leverage.
Portfolio Style
Under Eveillard, the First Eagle Global Fund was moderately concentrated, typically 80-150 holdings with meaningful position sizes in top holdings. He maintained a distinctive allocation to gold (5-15% of fund) and was willing to hold significant cash positions (up to 20-30% in expensive markets). His geographic allocation was truly global — US, Europe, Japan, and emerging markets. He favored asset-rich businesses, companies with strong balance sheets, and situations where he could buy at a significant discount to net asset value. He avoided highly leveraged companies, unproven business models, and situations where he couldn't estimate a margin of safety. His portfolio turnover was low, reflecting his long-term orientation.
Background
Jean-Marie Eveillard (born 1940) is a French-born American value investor who managed the SoGen International Fund (later renamed First Eagle Global Fund) from 1979 to 2004, a remarkable 25-year tenure. He returned briefly to manage the fund from 2007-2009 during the financial crisis before retiring permanently. Born in Poitiers, France, he studied at Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC Paris). He began his career at Societe Generale in Paris in the 1960s, transferring to New York in 1968. He took over the SoGen International Fund in 1979 when it had approximately $15 million in assets and built it into a multi-billion dollar fund. He was inducted into the Morningstar Fund Manager Hall of Fame and is considered one of the great international value investors of the 20th century. He is a disciple of Benjamin Graham and has been compared to Warren Buffett for his discipline and long-term orientation. He taught at Columbia Business School and has been a mentor to numerous value investors, including Matthew McLennan.
Track Record
Outstanding long-term track record. From 1979 to 2004, the SoGen International / First Eagle Global Fund compounded at approximately 15% per year, dramatically outperforming global equity indices. This was achieved with significantly lower volatility and drawdowns. During the 2000-2002 tech crash, his fund gained approximately 30% cumulatively while the S&P 500 fell roughly 50% and the MSCI World fell approximately 45%. This vindication of his discipline during the bubble period is one of the great stories in mutual fund history. However, from 1997-1999, he significantly underperformed as tech stocks soared and his conservative approach was out of favor. He lost approximately 40% of fund assets to redemptions during this period. When he was proven right, assets flowed back and eventually grew to over $20 billion. His return during the 2007-2009 crisis to co-manage the fund also helped protect investors. His career demonstrates the tension between short-term relative performance and long-term absolute returns.
Notable Holdings
During his tenure, notable holdings included: gold bullion, gold mining stocks (Newmont, Barrick), various European industrial and consumer companies, Japanese companies trading below book value, Philip Morris, Berkshire Hathaway, and numerous small and mid-cap companies globally where he found deep value. He was especially known for finding value in out-of-favor markets — Japan in the late 1990s/early 2000s, European companies during various crises, and emerging market companies trading at significant discounts to asset value.
Transparency & Integrity
Transparency(Score: 6/10)
Moderate transparency. Eveillard wrote thoughtful but infrequent letters and commentaries. He gave periodic interviews and speeches at Columbia Business School and value investing conferences. He was honest and direct about his views, including his willingness to criticize market excesses. His investment philosophy was well-articulated in various interviews and presentations. However, he was not as prolific a writer as Buffett or other famous investors. Since retirement, he has been less publicly active but occasionally appears at value investing events.
Integrity(Score: 10/10)
Exceptional integrity — among the highest in the mutual fund industry. His willingness to lose half his investors rather than half their money during the late 1990s bubble is a defining example of putting fiduciary duty above business considerations. When other managers style-drifted to chase tech stocks, he maintained his discipline at enormous personal and professional cost (massive fund outflows, pressure from management). He was vindicated spectacularly. He invested his own money alongside shareholders. He has never been involved in any ethical controversy or regulatory issue. He is universally respected in the value investing community for his moral character and intellectual honesty.
Relevance to Us
Very high relevance. Eveillard is one of the most philosophically aligned investors to our approach. His absolute return orientation, margin of safety discipline, willingness to hold cash, focus on avoiding permanent loss of capital, and long-term horizon all match our philosophy closely. His famous quote about preferring to lose shareholders rather than their money perfectly captures our 'little chance of losing money' approach. His gold allocation as tail risk insurance is worth studying. His behavior during the tech bubble is a masterclass in discipline under pressure. As a retired/legacy investor, his current holdings are not directly actionable, but his philosophy, frameworks, and historical decisions provide immense learning value. His main limitation for us is that he managed a relatively diversified portfolio (80-150 names) and had no framework for thinking about AGI/technology disruption.