David speaks with Tim King of Melior. Melior was established in 2018 by Lucy Steed and Tim King with backing from the founders of Adamantem Capital, Rob Koczkar and Anthony Kerwick. After scanning the market, they saw a gap for an Australian equities impact investment manager. They have formed a team of experienced investment professionals who share a common goal – to be part of the change they want to see in the world.

Tim co-founded Melior and is the Chief Investment Officer (CIO). He has worked in capital markets for more than 20 years and has over a decade of experience in ESG research. Tim was Head of Company & ESG Research for Colonial First State Global Asset Management’s Australian Equities Core Fund from 2016 to 2018. Prior to this he was Head of Advisory for governance research firm Regnan and Head of Company & ESG Research for Deutsche Bank from 2003 -2013. He was also a top 3 rated sell side analyst.

Beryl Capital is a strategy run by David Witkin that has typically invested in merger arbitrage opportunities. This strategy has delivered investors net returns over 20% p.a. since inception in June 2011 to March 2021.

However, David joins the podcast again to discuss the strategies transition towards also investing in SPACS – Special-Purpose Acquisition Companies. He touches on what a SPAC is, the structure of the deals, the potential risks and the potential upsides.

David is a 2001 graduate of Harvard University magna c*m laude in Economics, whose senior thesis was about merger arbitrage. His merger arbitrage career started in 1998 when he left college for one year to work on the arbitrage desk at Bear Stearns & Co., Inc. Mr. Witkin worked as a merger arbitrage analyst at Bear Stearns, Mason Capital Management, Citigroup Alternative Investments and Hayground Cove Asset Management before managing his own money in 2009 and his first outside capital in 2011.