Nathan Chitty weblog

Mind Wandering-Virgin Gorda

It is interesting how the internet enables your mind to wander. A friend asked me by email to keep an eye out on the weather channel for hurricane activity. I was looking at a hurricane map and saw the term "Leeward Islands" which I had heard before but did not know the meaning of the name (wind that goes from southeast to north west). I browsed further and found the google earth shot of Virgin Gorda.

I lived there as a 13 year old in 1969 for two months attending summer camp. The picture below is of Long Bay where our camp was located. It was a fantastic experience. I lived in a old sugar mill ruin and spent my days swimming and hiking the area with about 25 other boys from around the United States. It looks like there is no development on the bay since I left. One story that comes to mind about that summer was that it was the year of the moon landing. Two islanders, Mr. Creeke and Mr. George, strongly stated that there was no way man went to the moon. One of the intesting parts of the island is "The Baths" which is a rock formation of massive boulders on the south end of the island. Here are some pictures from Google you need to click on the link for the Baths on this page.

Peking to Paris to Anchorage Alaska trip completed

My good friend Arthur Freeman called a few minutes ago. He is almost finished with his 50 day drive from Peking to Paris to Anchorage.

The Peking to Paris part is well described at: http://www.pekingparis.com

Here is his car:

 

Conference Discussion

The conference attendence was about 200 folks mostly from companies who what to buy other companies.

The conference Chairman was George Petrulis who did a great job organizing the event.  Rob Firestone moderated some of the panels, he is the Chairman of the MASource and a very successful intermediary in Oklahoma.

What I like about this organization is that the folks share freely what they know and are very generous.

Chicago M&A Conference

I am in Chicago for a mergers and acquisitions seminar on how companies can buy companies.

My intention is to be the "Conference Chairman" for a similar conference in Orlando in the Spring of 2008. The conference is put on by an industry group of intermediaries know as the MASource. It is a great group.

The brochure on the conference is located at

http://www.ccgmergersdata.com/blog/chrono/070613_MasterClassOakbrookBrochure.pdf

Friday Keynote speaker Don Reynolds

This was a very interesting speech and quite a contrast with the lunch speaker yesterday, Michael Cox from the Dallas Fed. Today's lunch speaker was Don Reynolds http://www.donreynolds.com who gave a quite pessimistic view of the future based on the current economic situation particularly the upward pressure on oil prices. He has some excellent points particularly about China and India and their future consumption growth of oil. Here is a link to a similar speech to that given to our group.

Don made an interesting point after the speech during the informal QandA. A lady asked him, you bring up so many problems, What are the solutions?

His response was that it was his job to raise the problems but that he did not have the answers. His points on oil supply and oil consumption in China and India were particularly striking. Those economies are very low users of oil on a per capita basis and the global excess supply of oil is now in the low single digits. There is no place to go but up in oil prices and should there be a significant stoppage of oil from the Middle East (for instance a radical takeover of Saudi Arabia), the immediate consequences would be dramatic.

Development of alternative fuels in a significant and meaningful way is 10 years away. That did not seem like a long time to me!

http://www.21stcenturyforecasting.com/21stcenturyforecasting_high.wmv

This is from his website: Meet Don Reynolds Real World Economist  http://www.donreynolds.com 
Having served 11 years as Chairman of the Investment Advisory Board of a $22 Billion trust fund, his success resulted in his being appointed by George W. Bush as Pension Board Chairman with oversight of $120 Billion in Pension & Trust Funds. He understands how important personal accountability and bottom line performance is, and the need for decision makers to have a clear vision of future trends and events in order to make successful long term strategic decisions.

Lunch with Economist Michael Cox of the Dallas Federal Reserve

The lunch speaker on Thursday was Michael Cox, economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. It was a great presentation about economic and social trends. His discussion of China and India was particularly interest. He laid out 11 big trends that point to an encourageing future for the world.

Middle Market Expo on Thursday

Thursday was the Middle Market Expo sponsored by the MASource, an affiliated group to the IBBA for Intermeiaries doing "Middle Market" deals.

This expo is where intermediaries meet with private equity groups (PEGs) to discuss current deals and get to know each other. It was a very successful day for me making a number of contacts on current assignments and for the future. The conference has a cumulative effect too because you begin to see the same folks over and over. This is my 4th MASource conference.

I will be putting a short video in here from youtube.com shortly.

Meanwhile, here is a picture:

BB King House of Blues

The music was booming and the street was full.

My video provider, videoegg.com is not working so I am switching to youtube.com:

Beale Street street acrobats

http://www.bealestreet.com/home.html
Beale Street is the home of the blues in Memphis. This is a video of street acrobats and all the motorcycles parked on the street.

Unforetunately, there is a problem with this video which is housed on videoegg and mine is not showing up. However, I was able find a video on youtube of them performing.

The day I was there Beale Street was crowded with motorcycles and people watching "Flipper" performers from the YouTube video above.

Wednesday at Conference

This was a great day for learning. The speakers were excellent. This section of the conference is for the M&A professionals. At the end of the day I attended a reception hosted by Prospect Partners.