Just your average, normal, billionaire Master of the Universe hedge fund manager, and owner of the Carolina Panthers on opening day Sunday.

He hasn’t changed one bit since the days when we first met him and has never forgotten his roots.  Not a pretentious or snobby bone in him.

“What is the yield-to-death?”

Those words spoken by the legendary hedge fund king, and new owner of the Carolina Panthers, David Tepper, to my salesperson in 1993 when we were trying to convince him to buy a chunk of Peruvian busted bank loans at around 8 cents on the dollar.

Due Diligence

Tepper was half joking of course but he was covering all the bases as his fledgling hedge fund, Appaloosa Management, began to venture into the new emerging asset class of LDC debt.

He was, as any good trader and investor, skeptical and concerned about the country’s political stability.   The Shining Path, the Maoist guerrilla group terrorizing the country; the risk of a military coup d’etat, and all the uncertainties, which come with investing in an emerging market country.

I recall he did pull the trigger, and if my memory serves me correct,  it was, or one of, his first investments in the emerging markets.   If he held the position, and I am sure he did, the loans appreciated close to 1,000 percent over the next few years. – GMM,  Sept ‘18

We love David Tepper.