Putting His Money Where His Values Are

Nicolas Berggruen became a billionaire through classic value investing. Now, he is switching to a new strategy. Call it 'values investing.'

With rice farms in Cambodia, windmill farms in Turkey, an ethanol plant in Oregon and glittering new skyscrapers in poor inner cities around the world, Mr. Berggruen is pumping millions of dollars into projects that he hopes will both expand his fortune and alleviate social ills.

'Historically, I've made my money in financials,' says Mr. Berggruen, 46 years old, whose net worth is estimated at more than $3 billion. 'Now, I'm investing in the real world. I'm investing in the ground, in things that will last for generations and improve people's lives.'

Mr. Berggruen's big bet on social investing isn't unique. Richard Branson, the Google founders, Ted Turner and a vast new generation of eco-investors have all espoused world-friendly investing.

The quest is more personal for Mr. Berggruen (pronounced: BerGREWin). After amassing billions and buying all the usual trophies of success -- a Florida mansion on a private island, a luxury condo in New York -- Mr. Berggruen is paring down his material life. He has sold his properties and now lives in hotels. He is about to sell his only car. Because he doesn't have children and is unmarried, he is planning to leave his fortune to a personal foundation and an art museum.

'Living in a grand environment to show myself and others that I have wealth has zero appeal,' he says in an interview, standing in a hotel room in New York's Upper East Side. 'Whatever I own is temporary, since we're only here for a short period of time. It's what we do and produce, it's our actions, that will last forever. That's real value.'

The obsession with legacy is increasingly common among today's super-rich -- even for relatively young billionaires like Mr. Berggruen. 'For some of these people, they're growing concerned about how they're going to be remembered,' says Russ Alan Prince, president of Prince & Associates, a wealth-research firm that conducted a recent study on legacy. 'For others, they've always wanted to do something and they realize that if they don't do it now, they're never going to do it.'

For Mr. Berggruen, the transformation follows a life full of eccentricities and unconventional success. The son of Heinz Berggruen, the famed Germany-born art collector who befriended Pablo Picasso, Nicolas Berggruen grew up in France and Switzerland hoping to become a writer. He studied Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and other existentialists and rebelled against his privileged upbringing.

When he was 17 years old, he moved to New York City to attend New York University. He also started investing with a few thousand dollars of his own money. After graduating -- in two years -- he started investing in stocks, bonds and early forms of private equity.

Soon, he was buying entire businesses. Berggruen Holdings, his wholly owned investing vehicle, has net assets of more than $3 billion, according to Mr. Berggruen, business associates and corporate documents.

One of his biggest victories was FGX, the eyewear company formerly known as Foster Grant, which he acquired when it was declining in value. After making acquisitions, expanding the product lines and shoring up management, he took it public for a big profit.

He also created Media Capital, one of Portugal's largest media companies, after acquiring newspapers, television, radio, magazine and Internet assets. He has since sold the company.

'He's a disciplined buyer,' says Martin Franklin, the chief executive of Jarden Corp., the consumer-products giant, and a partner with Mr. Berggruen in several businesses. 'Nicolas is one of those guys who turns lemons into lemonade.'

Mr. Berggruen was also behind two of the world's largest special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs. These so-called blank-check companies raise money through initial public offerings to make acquisitions. A U.S. SPAC he helped launch in December, called Liberty Acquisition Holdings Corp. raised more than $1 billion. A European SPAC he launched in February, called Liberty International Acquisition Co. raised $878 million. Mr. Berggruen is still shopping for companies to buy with both funds.

He has experienced his share of setbacks. One of his earlier SPACs, Freedom Acquisition Holdings, merged with the British hedge-fund GLG Partners Inc. in 2007 to take the fund public. The stock surged initially, but plunged more than 30% in recent weeks after one of GLG's top traders abruptly resigned. Mr. Berggruen, who owns about 6% of the company, says he is disappointed in the loss but confident the stock will bounce back. In 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange composite trading Friday GLG's stock was down 11 cents to $7.78.

Despite his wealth, the boyish-looking Mr. Berggruen remains a mystery. He has avoided the press and has never appeared on the Forbes list of wealthiest individuals, although he would likely qualify. When a Dutch magazine tried to publish a profile of him several years ago, Mr. Berggruen bought up all the copies and destroyed them.

His personal habits are legendary among friends and colleagues. He works 12-to-14-hour days. He rarely visits his offices around the world, preferring to work in hotel rooms and restaurants. When he is in New York, he does most of his work on his BlackBerry while speed-walking around Central Park.

For Mr. Berggruen, chocolate is a primary food group. He eats two meals a day, one of which usually consists of chocolate cake. When David Bonderman, founder of TPG, the private-equity firm, went trekking with Mr. Berggruen in the Himalayas, Mr. Bonderman rode a horse. Mr. Berggruen bounded up the mountain fueled on chocolate bars.

He is restless to an extreme, logging 250 hours on his Gulfstream IV last year (his biggest indulgence) and visiting more than 80 cities around the world.

Mr. Berggruen's shift to socially responsible investing was gradual. When oil prices started soaring a few years ago, he looked into alternative energy sources. He acquired the Cascade Grain ethanol plan in Port Westward, Ore., the largest ethanol plant on the West Coast.

In researching ethanol, Mr. Berggruen realized that the world's food production -- which was increasingly being used for fuel -- wasn't keeping pace with demand. He formed a team of top agricultural experts and started researching ways of boosting farming productivity.

He bought up hundreds of thousands of acres in Australia, where he plans to grow grains. He is in talks to buy land in various other areas of the world, and he is negotiating with several governments to lease land for farming cassava, corn, rice, olives and other crops.

After his food ventures, Mr. Berggruen realized how many similar social problems could be solved -- or at least targeted -- through investing.

'Government wasn't solving these problems,' he said. 'So the market has to step in.'

One area was real estate. An avowed urbanist, Mr. Berggruen started investing in projects aimed at reviving decaying inner cities. He is working with partners to buy up large parcels in downtown Newark, N.J., to build a mixed-use development with offices, homes and retail. He is launching similar developments in India, Turkey and Israel, working with top architects such as Richard Meier, David Chipperfield and Kazuyo Sejima.

Mr. Berggruen is also making plans for his foundation, which will target a wide array of social problems. One of the few things he is still acquiring for his personal life is art, which he says will withstand the test of time and eventually be given back to the public through a museum.

'The art I buy now goes to storage,' he says. 'I don't have a home to hang it in.'

Robert Frank
WallStreet Journal 2008-05-27

社會責任投資成就億萬富翁社會價值

尼古拉斯•伯格魯恩(Nicolas Berggruen)通過傳統價值投資成為了億萬富翁。現在﹐他正在轉向一個全新的戰略﹐我們不妨也稱它為“價值投資”吧。

從柬埔寨的稻米農場﹐土耳其的風車農場﹐到俄勒岡州的乙醇製造廠﹐再到全球各地落後內陸城市拔地而起的摩天大樓﹐伯格魯恩先生正在向多個項目投資數百萬美元﹐希望這樣既能擴大他的個人財富﹐又能減輕社會頑疾。

現年46歲的伯格魯恩先生說﹐過去﹐我通過金融市場來賺錢。現在﹐我正在投資真實的世界。我正在投資實實在在﹐將持續影響幾代人、將改善人們生活的實業。伯格魯恩先生的個人淨資產估計已經超過30億美元。

並不是只有伯格魯恩先生在社會投資上有此大手筆。理查德•布蘭森(Richard Branson)、谷歌(Google)的創始人、泰德•特納(Ted Turner)﹐還有一大批新生代生態投資者都支持有利於世界發展的投資。

伯格魯恩先生的這種追求更具個人價值取向。在積累了億萬財富﹐購置了成功人士通常所有的戰利品（佛羅里達私人小島上的豪宅﹐紐約的豪華公寓）後﹐伯格魯恩先生開始降低對物質生活的要求。他已經出售了他的不動產業﹐現在常年居住在酒店裡。他還打算賣掉他僅有的一部汽車。由於他沒有孩子﹐也尚未結婚﹐他打算將自己的財富留給名下的個人基金和一家藝術博物館。

伯格魯恩先生在接受一次採訪中表示﹐居住在奢華的環境里﹐向我自己和其他人展示我是多麼富有﹐對我毫無意義。他站在位於紐約上東區的一間酒店客房裡對記者表示﹐無論我現在擁有什麼﹐都是暫時的﹐因為我們在這個世上只會度過一段短暫的時光。真正能夠永遠留下的﹐是我們的所作所為﹐是我們所創造的東西﹐是我們切實的行動。這才是真正的價值。

有關遺產的困擾在今天的超級富豪當中越來越普遍──即便是象伯格魯恩先生這樣相對年輕的億萬富翁也是如此。財富研究公司Prince & Associates最近就遺產問題進行了一項研究﹐該公司的總裁羅斯•阿蘭•普林斯(Russ Alan Prince)表示﹐對於其中有些富豪來說﹐他們對於自己將給後人留下怎樣的記憶感到擔懮。對於另外一些富豪而言﹐他們總是希望做點什麼﹐他們意識到如果現在不做﹐以後就永遠也沒有機會做了。

對於伯格魯恩先生來說﹐這種價值觀的轉變與他一生離奇而非傳統的成功有關。他是著名德裔藝術收藏家亨氏•伯格魯恩(Heinz Berggruen)的兒子﹐亨氏是畢加索(Pablo Picasso)的密友。他在法國和瑞士長大﹐年輕時的夢想是成為一名作家。他曾學習加繆(Albert Camus)﹐薩特(Jean-Paul Sartre)和其他存在主義學者的思想﹐生性反叛﹐對自己優越的出生感到厭惡。

在17歲的時候﹐伯格魯恩先生前往紐約﹐就讀於紐約大學(New York University)。他開始用自己的幾千美元進行投資。畢業後﹐他便開始積極投資股票、債券及早期的私人資本股權。

很快﹐他就開始收購整個企業。伯格魯恩先生、他的同事和公司文件提供的信息顯示﹐他自己全資所有的投資公司Berggruen Holdings目前擁有的淨資產超過30億美元。

伯格魯恩先生最大的成功之一便是眼鏡公司FGX（其前身是Foster Grant）﹐他在該公司價值不斷縮水的時候買下了它。收購完成後﹐他擴大了產品線﹐重組了管理層﹐然後將該公司上市﹐大賺了一筆。

伯格魯恩先生還創建了葡萄牙最大的媒體公司之一Media Capital﹐此前他收購了多家報紙、電視、廣播、雜誌和互聯網資產。後來﹐他也賣掉了該公司。

消費品巨頭Jarden Corp.的首席執行長馬丁•富蘭克林(Martin Franklin)表示﹐伯格魯恩先生是一個精明的買家。Jarden是伯格魯恩先生在多個企業的合作夥伴。富蘭克林說﹐尼古拉斯是那種能把壞事變好事的人。

伯格魯恩先生還是兩家全球最大的特殊目的收購公司(special-purpose acquisition companies﹐簡稱SPAC)的幕後操控者。這些所謂的“空白支票公司”通過首次公開募股籌集資金﹐然後進行收購。就在去年12月份﹐他推動成立的一家美國SPAC Liberty Acquisition Holdings Corp.籌集到超過10億美元的資金。今年2月份﹐他在歐洲成立的SPAC Liberty International Acquisition Co.也成功融資8.78億美元。伯格魯恩先生仍在為這兩家基金尋找目標企業。

不過﹐他也曾經歷過挫折。伯格魯恩先生早年成立的SPAC公司Freedom Acquisition Holdings與英國對沖基金GLG Partners Inc.在2007年合併﹐該基金隨後上市。最初﹐該股大幅上漲﹐但是在GLG的一位頂級交易員突然辭職後﹐近來幾週已經暴跌30%以上。伯格魯恩先生持有該公司大約6%的股份﹐他表示﹐他對該股的下跌表示失望﹐但是認為該股勢必會反彈。截至上週五紐約證交所收盤時﹐GLG的股票下跌11美分﹐報收7.78美元。

除了他的財富之外﹐看起來有些孩子氣的伯格魯恩先生在外界看來仍然是一個謎。他很少拋頭露面﹐媒體上鮮有關於他的報導﹐他也從未出現在福布斯(Forbes)富豪的名單上﹐儘管他很有可能上榜。幾年前﹐一家荷蘭雜誌試圖發表有關他的報導﹐伯格魯恩先生買下了全部雜誌﹐並銷毀了它們。

在朋友和同事看來﹐伯格魯恩先生的個人習慣頗具傳奇色彩。他每天工作12至14個小時。他很少出現在全球各地的辦公室﹐反倒是喜歡在酒店客房和餐廳里工作。在紐約的時候﹐他都是一邊繞著中央公園快步行走﹐一邊通過Blackberry處理工作事務。

對於伯格魯恩先生來說﹐巧克力是他必不可少的食品。他每天吃兩餐﹐其中一餐通常會有巧克力蛋糕。當私人資本運營公司TPG的創始人大衛•邦德曼(David Bonderman)和伯格魯恩先生在喜馬拉雅山脈徒步跋涉的時候﹐邦德曼只能騎著馬艱難前行﹐而伯格魯恩先生靠著巧克力棒補給的能量徒步完成了整個行程。

伯格魯恩先生似乎有用不完的精力﹐去年他在Gulfstream IV飛機上 (他最大的嗜好)度過了250個小時﹐足跡遍佈全球80多個城市。

伯格魯恩先生向社會責任投資的轉變是一個漸進的過程。幾年前﹐當油價開始飆升的時候﹐他也開始研究其它替代能源來源。他收購了俄勒岡州Port Westward的Cascade Grain乙醇工廠﹐這也是美國西海岸最大乙醇工廠。

在研究乙醇的時候﹐伯格魯恩先生發現﹐由於越來越多地被用於生產燃料﹐全球的糧食生產已經無法跟上需求的增長。於是﹐他組建了一個由一流農業專家組成的團隊﹐開始研究提高農場生產率的方法。

伯格魯恩先生在澳大利亞購買了數十萬英畝的土地﹐打算種植穀物。目前﹐他正在與有關方面磋商﹐準備收購世界其它地區的幾處土地。與此同時﹐他還在與幾個國家的政府展開談判﹐希望租用土地種植木薯、玉米、稻子、橄欖和其它農作物。

在進行糧食投資後﹐伯格魯恩先生意識到﹐許多類似的──至少是部分──社會問題也可以通過投資得到解決。

他說﹐政府沒有解決這些問題﹐因此市場必須介入。

另外一個領域就是房地產。伯格魯恩先生自認是一位城市規劃專家﹐他開始投資旨在重振漸趨沒落的內陸城市的項目。眼下﹐他正在與幾個合作夥伴商討在新澤西州紐瓦克市中心購買大片地皮﹐建造一個集辦公樓、住宅和商鋪於一體的混合開發項目。他還在印度、土耳其和以色列進行類似的開發項目﹐與之合作的頂級建築設計師包括理查德•邁耶(Richard Meier)﹐大衛•奇普菲爾德(David Chipperfield))以及妹島和世(Kazuyo Sejima)等。.

此外﹐伯格魯恩先生還在規劃他的基金會﹐準備以此應對一系列廣泛的社會問題。現在﹐他為自己的個人生活添置的東西已是屈指可數﹐藝術品就是其中之一。他說﹐藝術品能夠經得起時間的考驗﹐他最終會通過博物館將它們返還社會﹐與公眾分享。

伯格魯恩先生說﹐“我現在購買的藝術品都堆在儲藏室里。我根本沒有一個家可以把它們掛起來。”