China’s Zhaojin Mining Industry Co. is looking to acquire more gold mines in Africa and other regions, Chief Investment Officer Xu Jianzhuo said in an interview. The Shandong-based miner is targeting assets in West African countries with stable political regimes like Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Guinea, and from where European and US miners are exiting, Xu said. The firm is also looking at projects in...
China’s Zhaojin Mining Industry Co. is looking to acquire more gold mines in Africa and other regions, Chief Investment Officer Xu Jianzhuo said in an interview. The Shandong-based miner is targeting assets in West African countries with stable political regimes like Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Guinea, and from where European and US miners are exiting, Xu said. The firm is also looking at projects in Central Asia and the Asia Pacific, he added. Gold miners globally have stepped up acquisitions in recent years as prices for the precious metal rallied to successive records. Chinese firms have joined in the M&A race, with Zijin Mining Group Co. , Zhaojin’s largest domestic peer, buying Allied Gold Corp earlier this year to extend ownership over mines in Mali, Cote d’Ivoire and Ethiopia. A fragmented industry has presented opportunities for consolidation, a trend Xu sees continuing for the foreseeable future. Some miners spin off non-core assets after completing M&A deals, which could be snapped up by Chinese firms, he said. “Gold M&As are very active at the moment,” he said. “The trend will only become stronger. Even under such high gold prices, we still see deals being carried out to boost scale.” Meanwhile, the recent pullback in gold prices due to the Iran war is likely temporary as other major drivers like central bank buying and diversification away from the US dollar remain intact, Xu said. Zhaojin’s first major overseas foray was the 2024 acquisition of assets in Cote d’Ivoire, where the Abujar mine is on course to produce 4 to 5 tons of gold this year, meeting earlier guidance, the CIO said. The miner has also inserted copper into its asset portfolio for the coming years, but given the high capital expenditure associated with mining the industrial metal, will approach any acquisitions with caution, Xu said. The company is interested in relatively small copper projects in countries like Namibia and Botswana in southern Africa, he added. Zhaojin’s shares have rallie...
John Touscany/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Shares of Fiserv ( FISV ) have been a brutal underperformer over the past year, losing about two thirds of their value. Last year, sharply reduced guidance sent the stock cratering, as investors realized much of its growth had to do with hyperinflation and interest rates in Argentina, with the rest of the business actually quite sluggish. While new m...
John Touscany/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Shares of Fiserv ( FISV ) have been a brutal underperformer over the past year, losing about two thirds of their value. Last year, sharply reduced guidance sent the stock cratering, as investors realized much of its growth had to do with hyperinflation and interest rates in Argentina, with the rest of the business actually quite sluggish. While new management has made strides in stabilizing the business, there is clearly a lack of trust that will take time to restore. FISV has been one of my worst calls, and my reiteration of a buy in February was also mistaken with the stock down 11%. This further underperformance has come even as results exceeded my expectations, with the multiple compressing further, to my surprise. With updated financials, now is a good time to explore if a bottom has been reached or if investors should cut losses and move on. Seeking Alpha In the company’s first quarter , Fiserv actually beat estimates by $0.21, earning $1.79, as revenue declined 2% from last year to $4.7 billion. This beat was not quite as impressive under the hood as its tax rate was unusually low due to a discrete $0.17 item. Adjusting for this, its quarter was essentially in-line with outlooks. Organic growth was down 3.6% from last year, as it faces slowing growth and has pivoted away from certain sales activity that provided little long-term profit. The company cut prices last year to manage attrition, and that is also weighing on results. Margins have compressed 8% to 29.7%. With cost cuts to rightsize the business, a fading impact from pricing investments, and continued Clover growth, we should be near the floor of margins, though I expect them to remain structurally lower than 2024-2025 levels. Fiserv Its Merchant Solutions business saw a 1% decline in organic revenue. The unit generated $626 million of operating income with margins at 26.4%, down from 34.2% last year. Clover volumes were up 9%, and this drove a 6% increa...
peshkov/iStock via Getty Images Dear Fellow Investors, 2025 tested our patience, but not our conviction. The fund ¹ returned -2% in the quarter, bringing the full-year returns to -10% ² . While this 12-month result is frustrating, it follows gains of 51% in 2023 and 27% in 2024. More importantly, although the fund was down, the underlying businesses were not. In any given year, a business can comp...
peshkov/iStock via Getty Images Dear Fellow Investors, 2025 tested our patience, but not our conviction. The fund ¹ returned -2% in the quarter, bringing the full-year returns to -10% ² . While this 12-month result is frustrating, it follows gains of 51% in 2023 and 27% in 2024. More importantly, although the fund was down, the underlying businesses were not. In any given year, a business can compound intrinsic value while its share price moves in the opposite direction. That divergence is uncomfortable, though not unusual, and it is rarely permanent. When business progress continues and valuation compresses, latent pressure builds and sets the stage for a snap back. Eventually, the multiple stops compressing and you get paid for being right on the business. I believe our returns have been delayed, not foregone. Historically, our returns have come in chunks or bursts; much like a coiled spring or a drawn crossbow, the conditions are in place for another burst. The quarterly letter is typically organized around our top holdings and significant new positions. In this letter, I want to use a different structure. I believe there are two distinct “setups” that several of our holdings fall into, and I want to frame them accordingly. The first setup, which I’ve dubbed “Bamboo Trees,” includes companies that made significant progress toward a radical transformation in 2025 with very little share price appreciation to show for it. The second setup includes companies whose share prices declined significantly in 2025 due to fears of changes that may never come to pass. These companies continued to grow and execute, but the market priced in negative outcomes that I believe are unlikely to materialize. For these businesses, I believe the other shoe is not dropping and I believe the risk/reward is favorable, as fear dissipates. Bamboo Trees The Chinese bamboo tree takes five years to grow. It has to be watered and fertilized every day, yet it does not break through the ground for...