六年:從分析師到對衝基金創始人的華麗轉身
At just 30 years old, Cara Goldenberg is at the top of her game. She is the founder and managing partner of Permian Investment Partners, a New York City-based hedge fund she launched in 2008.
卡拉•戈登伯格年僅30歲就已經成爲業內頂尖人士。2008年，她在紐約創立了對衝基金Permian Investment Partners，並擔任執行董事。
Goldenberg began her career at Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) as an analyst in the investment banking division. Her strong quant skills quickly funneled her into the private equity group, a move that allowed her to circumvent the traditional analyst-associate-business school route that many of her peers would follow.
戈登伯格的職業生涯始於摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley），當時她在該公司的投行部門擔任分析師。憑藉優秀的數據分析能力，她很快脫穎而出，進入了私募股權部門，這使她沒像很多投行同業那樣，走一條從分析師到項目經理、再就讀商學院的老路。
Less than two years into her stint at Morgan Stanley, Goldenberg was one of the first young investment bankers to be picked off by the hedge fund industry. She left to work for Highbridge Capital Management. Brahman Capital's management team was so impressed with Goldenberg's questions during an investor meeting, that they recruited her away from Highbridge.
在摩根士丹利只幹了不到兩年，戈登伯格就被對衝基金行業相中，加盟了高橋資本管理公司（Highbridge Capital Management），成爲轉投對衝基金行業的第一批年輕投資銀行家之一。後來在一次投資者會議上，戈登伯格提出的問題給Brahman Capital的管理層留下了深刻印象，於是他們從高橋資本管理公司那裏挖走了戈登伯格。
Fortune recently spoke with Goldenberg about her impressive rise to the top. Here's an edited transcript of the conversation:
《財富》（Fortune）雜誌最近採訪了戈登伯格，瞭解到她是如何傳奇般地崛起爲金融界的頂尖人物。以下是這次訪談經過剪輯的文字記錄。
Fortune: What has been the driving force for you as an investor?
《財富》：什麼力量驅使你成爲一名投資家？
Goldenberg: I was trained early on to focus primarily on management quality. If you follow brilliant management teams, it will lead you to brilliant investment ideas. It's pattern recognition.
戈登伯格：我很早就開始接受了管理質量培訓。如果你跟隨一個優秀的管理團隊，就會激發你產生優秀的投資創意。這就是“模式識別”。
At Highbridge, I was able to hit the ground running because I was hardwired to look at things the way they did. I was looking at a universe of European companies that were mismanaged and had depressed earnings. They had cost-cutting and capital allocation opportunities that were far better than their U.S. counterparts. But their share prices didn't reflect that potential. We knew that the right management teams could turn these companies around. And no one else was terribly interested in them.
我之所以能在高橋資本管理公司如魚得水，是因爲我向來都追求事物的本質規律。我研究了大量管理不善、收益不佳的歐洲公司。相比同類型的美國公司，這些歐洲公司在削減成本和配置資本方面的機會好得多，但他們的股價並沒有反映出這種潛力。我們知道，好的管理團隊可以扭轉這些公司的局面。但當時除了我之外，沒人對這些公司特別感興趣。
What was your big break?
你的重大轉折點是什麼？
Brahman. The European team at Highbridge left so I started looking at European Special Situations. That's how I met the founding partners at Brahman. I knew Europe reasonably well and spoke French and Italian. So when Brahman hired me from Highbridge, they said, "Go invest in Europe." That was really the beginning.
那是我在Brahman公司的時候。由於高橋資本管理公司的歐洲團隊離開了，所以我把目光投向歐洲特別情況基金（European Special Situations），就這樣，我認識了Brahman的創辦合夥人。我對歐洲較爲了解，而且我會說法語和意大利語，所以Brahman公司把我從高橋資本挖走，他們對我說：“去投資歐洲的公司吧。”然後就有了後來的故事。
Originally, I was the only one looking at European opportunities. I was focused on a different geography and I had real autonomy. Within two years, approximately two-thirds of the fund's assets had shifted to Europe and I had hired several analysts to help me.
一開始，我是唯一關注歐洲機會的人。我關注的是一個不同的地區，而且我擁有真正的自主權。在不到兩年的時間裏，這支基金大約有三分之二的資產都被轉移到了歐洲，而且我也僱傭了幾個分析師來幫我。
They didn't give me a budget, it wasn't "here's 'x' dollars." It was, "find the best ideas and we'll figure out how to prioritize." I am very grateful to them for taking a chance on me.
公司高層並沒有給我一個預算，他們不會說“這裏有多少多少錢，”而是說，“去找最好的投資點子，我們來想辦法對它們進行優先排序。”我非常感激他們信任我，讓我放手去幹。
The first idea of real magnitude was Fiat. When we launched Permian in 2008, a famous hedge fund manager gave us money because, he said: "You had the guts when you were 23 to look at a company that no one else did. That's why I believe in you."
我做的第一筆真正重量級的交易是菲亞特（Fiat）。當我們在2008年建立Permian基金時，一位知名的對衝基金經理給了我們許多錢，他說：“你很有膽量，你在23歲的時候就敢於關注一家沒人關注的公司，所以我對你有信心。”
How did you get to Fiat?
你爲什麼會投資菲亞特？
Sergio Marchionne, the new CEO, was a guy with a track record for creating value in Switzerland. He spent time in GE (GE, Fortune 500) and made his mark at a Swiss quality control company. He came into a company [Fiat] whose reputation was tarnished and whose brand equity had been decimated. But philosophically smart people choose smart businesses. Marchionne saw the opportunity, and we saw Marchionne.
菲亞特公司的新任首席執行官塞爾吉奧•馬奇奧尼在瑞士多次創造出卓越價值。他曾在通用電氣公司（GE）工作過，然後在一家瑞士的質量控制公司做出了引人注目的成績。當他接管菲亞特的時候，菲亞特的名聲已經受損，而且品牌資產大幅下跌。明智的人會選擇明智的業務。馬奇奧尼看到了菲亞特的機會，而我們看中了馬奇奧尼。
We were likely the only investors outside Italy interested in Marchionne at the time. After some begging and pleading, he granted us a meeting.
當時，我們很有可能是意大利境外唯一對馬奇奧尼感興趣的投資人。幾經懇求，他才答應同我們見個面談談。
Marchionne joined Fiat with a mandate to do whatever was necessary to fix the company. We bought some shares. He confirmed what we surmised. He had full support of the board and its new chairman. If auto was worth more dead than alive, he'd kill it.
馬奇奧尼在加盟菲亞特的時候被告知，只要能夠拯救這家公司，他可以做任何必要的事。我們購買了一些菲亞特的股權，馬奇奧尼證實了我們的猜測。他得到了菲亞特董事會和新任董事長的全力支持。如果讓菲亞特的汽車業務破產，比讓它苟延殘喘更有價值，那麼他會讓它申請破產。
Fiat was the biggest employer in Italy at the time. He took on the labor unions. He was fearless. He had real skin in the game and his incentives were aligned.
菲亞特公司當時是意大利最大的僱主。馬奇奧尼與工會“叫板”，他無所畏懼。他在這場遊戲中表現得非常強硬，還調整了他的激勵手段。
Marchionne saved Fiat. He got $2.25 billion to cancel a legacy agreement that Fiat could "put" itself to GM (GM). No one thought it could happen -- there's no way this debt-laden, cash strapped Italian company will win in an international court of law. But Marchionne walked away with $2.25 billion of cash and Rick Wagoner [then CEO of GM] was fired shortly thereafter. This was half of Fiat's market cap.
馬奇奧尼拯救了菲亞特。他從通用汽車（GM）那裏拿到了22.5億美元的資金，取消了一項使菲亞特“併入”通用汽車公司的遺留協議（事情起因於2000年，通用汽車斥資24億美元，購買了菲亞特20%的股權，並計劃逐步擴大持股份額，逐漸將菲亞特收於旗下，爲此通用與菲亞特簽訂了一系列協議。後來由於通用和菲亞特兩方都債務纏身，爲了避免承擔菲亞特的高額債務，通用決定不再收購菲亞特的其餘汽車業務。作爲與菲亞特之間法律爭端的補償，這22.5億美金就是通用爲菲亞特開出的“分手費”——譯註） 。沒有人料到會是這個結果——這樣一家債務纏身、現金短缺的意大利公司，是無法在國際法庭上打贏這場官司的。但是馬奇奧尼竟然從通用那兒拿到了22.5億美元的現金，而時任通用汽車公司首席執行官的裏克•瓦格納不久後卻被解聘了。22.5億美元是當時菲亞特市值的一半。
We exited the position in the mid-teens and made a lot of money. It was the biggest profit generator in Brahman's history.
我們以15美元左右的價格平倉，賺了一筆大錢。這是Brahman公司歷史上最賺錢的一筆交易。
Were you surprised by your early career successes?
你對你職業生涯早期的成功感到驚訝嗎？
Was I surprised? No, it wasn't like I opened the door and there was Ed McMahon. The day Rick Wagoner parted with $2.25 billion, I was blown away. But no, I was never surprised by the success. I just became more and more convinced of the process and realized what a competitive advantage it was. This management-driven philosophy allowed me to follow the most intelligent, successful and capable people in the world. It allowed me to be contrarian. It made me excited to work harder and expand the team.
我驚訝嗎？不。這並不像是我一打開門，發現門口站着艾德•麥克馬洪（著名脫口秀主持人——譯註）。通用汽車前首席執行官開出22.5億美金與菲亞特“分手”那天，我確實很吃驚。但我從未因爲個人的成功感到驚訝，我只是在做事情的過程中越來越有信心，逐漸明白自己的競爭優勢。我的這種管理導向型的投資哲學，使我能夠跟隨世界上最聰明、最成功和最有能力的人一同進步。它使我敢於進行逆向投資，使我一直具有努力工作、擴展團隊的激情。
Tell me what differentiates Permian from other hedge funds.
Permian與其他對衝基金有何不同？
Most of our investments are a product of what we've learned from working with and investing behind really great management teams. We're very isolated. We'd rather spend our time learning from successful operators and investors. CEO's making strategic decisions every day -- they are essentially investors themselves -- allocating capital in the most shareholder-friendly way. This approach keeps us independent and it keeps our portfolio unique.
我們與許多非常出色的管理團隊進行了合作，並且對他們進行了投資，我們在這個過程中學到了很多東西，並且Permian的大部分投資都是以此爲基礎的。我們非常獨立，寧願花時間向成功的經營者和投資人學習。企業的首席執行官們每天都要進行戰略決策，從本質上講，他們自己也是投資人，在以對股東最有利的方式進行資本的分配。這種方法使我們保持獨立，並且使我們的投資組合始終保持了自己的特色。
We have a network and investor base that is totally different from most hedge funds. Our reference list is our management teams. People say, "can you give me your list of references?' And we send a list of CEO's. And they say, "No, we'd like to speak with your investors." We say, "Those are our investors."
我們的關係網和投資人羣體與大多數對衝基金完全不同。我們的推薦人名單上列的就是公司的管理團隊。有人會問：“你能給我一份你們的推薦人名單嗎？”我們就會發給他們一份名單，上面列的都是首席執行官的名字。他們說：“這不是我要的，我們是想和你們的投資人談談。”我們就會說：“他們就是我們的投資人。”
What would you say is your competitive advantage?
你認爲你的競爭優勢是什麼？
I can get a management team to articulate an idea that will cement an opportunity that other colleagues perhaps can't get. It's communication, but it's stylistic. I think it stems from meeting with hundreds of CEO's year after year and really listening to, and learning from them. And asking the right questions.
我可以讓管理團隊明確地表達出他們的想法，從而使我們抓住機會，而其他人可能無法做到這一點。這就是溝通的藝術，但我在溝通上有我自己的風格。我想這是因爲我每年都和數百位首席執行官會面，並且認真傾聽，認真向他們學習，並且提出正確的問題。
We recently met a Finnish guy who spent 18 years at P&G (PG, Fortune 500) selling laundry detergent and Sunny Delight. He's now running a sporting goods conglomerate in Finland -- with totally different products and different distribution challenges.
我們最近與一個芬蘭人進行了會面，他爲寶潔公司（P&G）效力了18年，主要負責銷售洗衣粉和Sunny Delight牌的飲料。現在他正在芬蘭運營一家大型的體育用品企業，這與他從前銷售的產品完全不同，分銷渠道也截然不同。
Instead of saying, "What the hell do you know about a sporting goods company?" We looked at it the other way. We asked, what did it take for him to step out of eighteen years at P&G, where he had $25 billion of revenue. What did he see?
我們並沒有問他“你對體育用品公司到底知道多少？”而是從另一個角度來看這個問題。我們問的是，他爲什麼要離開效力18年的寶潔公司，要知道，他爲寶潔帶來的營業收入高達250億美元。他是怎麼考慮的？
I asked him, "How many opportunities did you turn down before you took this one?" The answer was over 20. But when I asked, "Why did you take this one?" It was totally obvious.
我問他：“你在接手這份工作前拒絕了多少家公司的邀請？”他說20多家。然後我問道：“你爲什麼要從事這份工作？”聽了他的回答，道理就很明白了。
There were brands in this portfolio. Wilson for instance, with 2% market share. Not 20% like you might think. Wilson had tremendous market power that hadn't yet been realized. There's enormous brand equity there.
因爲這個行業蘊藏着巨大的品牌價值潛力。以威爾遜（Wilson）爲例，威爾遜的市場佔有率只有2%，而不是許多人認爲的20%。威爾遜有極大的市場潛力還沒有被挖掘。因此這個行業的品牌價值潛力極大。
Our investment had nothing to do with the business, per se. We didn't even identify a market opportunity. We just knew enough to talk to a guy who left P&G after 18 years.
我們的投資在本質上與業務本身無關，我們甚至沒有去尋找市場機會。與這位曾經爲寶潔效力了18年的高管一番暢談後，我們已經知道了這項業務是否值得投資。
譯者：樸成奎
