Why Oasis Management's Seth Fischer traveled across the world to do 10-minute pitches at 3 conferences in 16 days

Business Insider

2 days ago

There are road warriors, and then there's Seth Fischer.
The founder of Oasis Management, a Hong Kong-based hedge fund, Fischer was at the dais at the Sohn conference's flagship New York event on May 14, pitching Japanese electronics manufacturer Kyocera. Two weeks later, the Israel Defense Forces veteran was in Canada at Sohn's inaugural Montreal event, where he presented on Round One, a Japanese arcade chain that has expanded to the US. Friday, he was back home in Hong Kong — and speaking from the Sohn podium about Round One again, calling the company's CEO, Masahiko Sugino, a wizard.
In between all the presentations, he also visited Switzerland and Israel, he told Business Insider in an email. He said he's happy to help the Sohn Foundation, which focuses on childhood cancer research and prevention and is named after Ira Sohn, a young finance professional who died from cancer at the age of 29.
The conference has been a staple in the investment management industry's calendar for decades, with Greenlight founder David Einhorn, Point72 CEO Steve Cohen, and D1 Capital boss Dan Sundheim among the big names who have previously spoken. Many who speak at the event pitch an investment idea, often a stock, in 10 minutes or less.
The Sohn Foundation in Hong Kong works with the Karen Leung Foundation, which was started in honor of Fischer's former colleague, who died of cancer in 2012. Fischer is a cofounder of the Karen Leung Foundation.
"We think it's a great cause, so really just happy to help. We're currently closed to new investors, so this is not a marketing trip," said Fischer, who declined to share the firm's current assets under management.
He is equally passionate about the companies he pitched and Japanese equities in general. He wrote that corporate governance adoption should be a boon for the Asian nation's stocks.
"Value is being unlocked by better management, ending related party transactions, enhancing margins, having accountability at the board level, and improving shareholder returns," said Fischer, who founded Oasis in 2002 after seven years at Glenn Dubin and Henry Swieca's Highbridge Capital.
He said he gets adjusted to new time zones and cities by running — he logged miles in three different continents this past week — and by being "very serious" about sleeping on planes.
"For fun, I'm running, reading, and listening to podcasts and Audible," he said. He just finished "Everything is Tuberculosis", John Green's latest book on the disease.
"Maybe that doesn't make me sound like too fun of a guy, but it's been a very good listen."