Louis-Vincent Gave
Founding Partner & Chief Executive Officer
After receiving his bachelor's degree from Duke University and studying Mandarin at Nanjing University, Louis joined the French Army where he served as a second lieutenant in a mountain infantry battalion. After a couple of years, Louis left the army and joined Paribas where he worked as a financial analyst—first in Paris, then in Hong Kong.
Louis left Paribas in 1999 to launch Gavekal Research with Charles Gave and Anatole Kaletsky in London. In 2002, Louis left the London office and returned to Hong Kong; the idea at the time was that Asia was set to become an ever more important factor in global growth and that, consequently, Gavekal needed to offer its clients more information, and more ideas, relating to Asia. Since then, Louis has been living in Hong Kong from where he oversees Gavekal’s money management business. Nonetheless, Louis contributes episodically to the research. Louis has written five books, though none since the publication in 2012 of Too Different for Comfort (e-version available for free download here) a book which reviewed how the rise of robotics, the demographic transition in China, and shale-induced lower energy prices would transform the world. Louis frequently speaks at industry events and is often quoted in the financial media.
Louis has also been involved with different start-up ventures. He has helped seed a number of companies including Roboglobal LLC, Sponsorise.me, Think-Twice, Jobby-Pepper, On-Off Telecom, A-Ride Inc, Extreme Organics Inc, Ullr Maps Inc, and others. Louis currently sits on the board of Uniserve Inc, a Toronto Stock Exchange listed telecoms company, and is the non-executive chairman of Roboglobal LLC (the manager of the ROBO.US ETF, one of the largest robotics dedicated ETFs). He is also a non-executive director at Evergreen-Gavekal, a Bellevue, WA based private wealth manager. Louis also sits on the visiting board of Trinity college – Duke University.
In his spare time, Louis likes to spend time on the rugby pitch, whether in Hong Kong (where he plays for Valley RFC), or in France where he is the owner/president of the Biarritz Olympique, a club currently evolving in France’s Pro D2.
Louis speaks English and French. He spent many hours studying Mandarin and Spanish, which he once spoke decently. He is married with two sons and two daughters.
For Louis's article archive please click here.
The Daily
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Gavekal Research
January 25, 2019
The Four Prices That Matter
It is Gavekal’s longstanding mission to develop simple principles that investors can use to navigate complicated financial markets. In this vein, one of our core tenets is that four prices matter more than all others, and together these determine the level of global economic activity and of investor risk appetite.
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Gavekal Research
January 2, 2019
A Future For Value Investing
Financial theory teaches that, in order to determine the price of an asset, we should take its foreseeable future cash-flows, discount them by a risk-free rate to which we can add a risk premium, and then beyond these cash-flows ascribe a “residual value” to the business.
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Gavekal Research
December 12, 2018
Drinking Red Wine And Buying Italy
A Gavekal rule of thumb has it that investors can safely invest in economies where the “working class” mostly drink beer but should be careful in places where theymostly drink red wine. I make this observation as investors face a quandary among the wine drinkers: France versus Italy.
Ideas
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Gavekal Research
February 14, 2019
Thirty Years Later: Tiananmen's Long Shadow
On Monday we published a piece from Louis in which he assessed the three economic fronts where the US and China are doing battle. In this second part of the series, Louis steps back and considers the chief monetary priorities that China has settled on since the tumultuous events at Tiananmen Square almost 30 years ago.
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Gavekal Research
February 11, 2019
Three Separate Battlefronts In The Unfolding Cold War
As the clash between China and the US intensifies, Louis notes the primacy that Mao Zedong’s guerrilla tactics would have had in forming the current Chinese leadership’s political consciousness and setting a template for the way they handle conflict. As such, he sees the struggle between the two superpowers playing out on three distinct fronts.
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Gavekal Research
January 10, 2019
The Big Questions For 2019
The last quarter of 2018 proved to be something of a horror show for most investors and despite this year starting with a firmer tone, the investment landscape looks to have changed in a fairly profound way. In this report, Louis considers the major shifts in the investment environment and asks whether these conditions will persist through 2019.
Multimedia
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Gavekal Research
December 13, 2018
Audio & Transcript — Gavekal Research Call December 2018
In the final Gavekal Research Conference Call of the year, Louis-Vincent Gave, Anatole Kaletsky and Charles Gave shared their perspectives on a year which has been challenging for all asset classes, and offered their thoughts on what could be in store for investors in 2019.
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Gavekal Research
October 30, 2018
Beijing Seminar — October 2018
At Gavekal’s seminar in Beijing last week, Louis-Vincent Gave, Udith Sikand and Chen Long presented their latest views on the turn in global markets, the prospects for emerging markets in the quarters ahead, and on China's policy priorities as it faces down the US in a prolonged rivalry.
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Gavekal Research
October 19, 2018
Video: Why China Is Unlikely To Fold
To many outside observers, China’s economy looks like a house of cards that is vulnerable to collapse should the US push a little harder in its trade actions. Louis is not convinced that this market-focused analysis of China’s situation properly reflects its vulnerability. He thinks the leadership is dug in for a long struggle against Washington.