About Us
Qualtus was created for the long-term management of our capital and that of our investors, in the most rational and optimal manner we know.
Our approach is based on decades of investment experience, including allocating capital for the endowments of Harvard and Columbia universities, operating family-controlled businesses, and investing directly in public and private companies.
After having been exposed to a vast number of investment styles and strategies, we strongly believe that the best way to earn outstanding returns over the long run is to hold a concentrated portfolio of high-quality businesses, and to manage this portfolio in a rational, disciplined manner while considering conviction and opportunity cost.
Principals
Charlie Saravia and Julio S. Volante are the founding partners of Qualtus Investment Partners.
Charlie Saravia has more than 20 years of institutional investment experience, having spent the majority of these years in the endowments of Harvard and Columbia universities. Charlie successfully deployed billions of capital, directly in the public markets and indirectly through partnerships with other managers.
Julio S. Volante led a holding company with operating subsidiaries in various industries, some of which had great business models while others did not. Over time, he appreciated the advantages of focusing efforts and resources on only the outstanding ones. Therefore, he led expansions, restructurings, and divestitures that eventually enabled him to manage a concentrated investment portfolio of high-quality public businesses.
The name Qualtus comes from Qualitas Altus, meaning High Quality in Latin.
Investment Philosophy
We look for high-quality businesses with sources of sustainable earning power, protected by durable moats, at safe prices and hold them while their value materializes.
Exceptional businesses live in a vast universe of companies, and they are few and far between. A fundamental characteristic of any free competitive system is efficiency. In particular, its tendency to diminish temporary individual advantages over time. Any enterprise’s successful initiative is meticulously observed, studied, replicated, or improved by competitors, which tends to transform any advantage into a temporary advantage.
After the temporary advantage has been eroded by the rest of the players, the system settles into a new equilibrium. Therefore, the existence of an enterprise with sustainable outstanding returns over long periods of time, in an efficient competitive system, is an anomaly. Our search and analysis are focused on finding these anomalies and determining if quality truly exists and is protected by a durable moat.
A great business does not generate great investment returns unless it is acquired at a proper price. We define risk as the permanent loss of capital, and take advantage of volatility, including price moves, discrepancies and dislocations to acquire new opportunities.
We focus on acquiring quality businesses managed by prudent stewards of capital. We continuously discuss, assess, and focus on allocating capital to the best available opportunities, given our conviction and expected returns.
Our Approach
At Qualtus, everything is aimed at maximizing our odds of compounding capital over the long run.
First, we believe that our deep focus on quality businesses is a long-term advantage.
Second, our approach and culture are designed to reduce behavioral biases, unnecessary activities, and therefore errors.
Third, our experience and expertise in assessing high-quality businesses is an additional advantage to finding businesses that can be significantly more valuable over the years.
Fourth, our rational and dynamic process of allocating capital to the best IRRs within our selected high-quality businesses augments returns over time.
The combination of these factors compounded over time puts the odds highly in our favor. What reinforces our conviction to pursue this strategy is our combined forty years of experience, including having deployed large amounts of capital at very attractive returns.
“The best strategy to earn success is to deserve it.”
— Charlie Munger —