Our background
Hauser & Friends is a partnership of investors with the goal of achieving long-term market-beating returns. The brothers Phillip and Fritz Hauser founded their first investment partnership, solely for family members, in 2006. As friends became interested and asked to participate, Hauser & Friends AG was started in 2012.
On behalf of the partnership, we primarily invest in stocks and pursue a risk-averse investment strategy:
- We buy shares of companies which are undervalued in relation to their assets and earning power.
- We concentrate on simple, solid and enduring business models.
- We measure our success by long-term increase in value, not short-term fluctuations.
Despite the turbulent capital markets in the past few years, we have beaten the German stock index DAX since May 2006.
Our value propositions
Partnership: Most of the investment products currently being offered on the market have one problem: The investor usually comes last. At Hauser & Friends, we wanted to change that attitude and decided to structure the partnership in a way that our investors come first. Being major shareholders of Hauser & Friends ourselves, we eat our own cooking.
Our invested assets currently amount to approx. €16.6 million (as of 12/31/2020), so we still have room for more Friends.Experience: Although we are still young, we have been able to gain valuable experience running the family partnership. In 2012 we decided to expand by founding Hauser & Friends. Take a look at what we have achieved below.
Proven strategy: Our investment strategy is based on a thorough analysis of financial statements of companies and was heavily influenced by Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett. The first question we ask ourselves when considering an investment is: What’s the worst case? We focus on risk avoidance. Our past performance was achieved during turbulent financial times, thus emphasizing our risk aversion.
Favorable cost structure: At Hauser & Friends, there are no hidden costs. We shun all unnecessary costs, run the company on a bare-bone basis and focus our time on finding attractive investments. Investors do not have to pay any fixed administration charges – Management covers them! Furthermore, we only get paid for performance, there are no fixed compensation fees. This ensures that management’s incentives are aligned with our investors’ interests.
Giving back: We pledge to annually give away a part of our share of the profits of Hauser & Friends for good causes.
Sustainability: We refrain from investing in socially destructive industries, such as armaments production and gambling.
Our performance
17 May 2006 – 31 December 2020
Hauser & Friends’ goal is to beat the market, long-term: Since 2006 we have achieved +10.6% p.a. net on average, vs. +6.3% p.a. for the German stock index DAX, while taking into account a much higher volatility which we happily accept to improve our results in the long run.
Past performance is not indicative of future results. The comparison with the German DAX Performance Index (Source: S&P CapitalIQ) stretches from 17 May 2006 to 31 December 2020. The results until 31 December 2012 include all investments conducted by Phillip and Fritz Hauser for their previous, private partnership. It has been prepared by the accounting firm Hecht & Partner GmbH (part of HBM Hecht Bingel Müller & Partner), Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany) and the rate of return represents the changes in market price of all portfolio holdings by year-end in comparison to the previous year (expect for 2006: May 17th until December 31st), including dividends, after costs and withholding tax, before profit tax.
From 1 January 2013 onward, the performance solely reflects the yearly results of Hauser & Friends AG and are thus after all costs and taxes according to IFRS. The returns have been calculated as part of the financial statements by the accounting firm HBM Hecht Bingel Müller & Partner, Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany). In addition, starting in 2015, the yearly annual report is audited by the audit firm BANSBACH GmbH, branch Baden-Baden (Germany). To improve comparability, the returns until 31 December 2012 have been retroactively reduced by the performance fee of Hauser & Friends AG. In doing so, losses had to be made up in the years thereafter before a reduction was made (high-water mark). Hence, ‘gross return’ corresponds to the return before management fee and ‘net return’ is equal to the return after fee.
The aforementioned results were obtained by accepting a high (share-typical) volatility. In the past, our peak return amplitude has been -34.5% (2018) up to +77.3% (2013). We expect our results to continue being very volatile. Hauser & Friends is thus only suitable for investors that are able to accept this kind of volatility.
The founders of Hauser & Friends
Investor process
In three steps towards a relaxing investment:
Contact
You want to know more about Hauser & Friends?
Then please don’t hesitate to contact us.
We look forward to talking to you.
Phillip & Fritz Hauser
Founders & Co-Presidents