• In the case of a 1929 II event we would expect that the survival of most asset classes is more at risk than a set of carefully chosen companies:
  • Real estate because of the leverage that is employed regularly
  • Hedge Funds due to the associated leverage; and because of the untested default risks of derivative positions.

• Furthermore, simulations show that the correlation of those asset classes increases strongly in times of crises. We thus see only a limited possibility for real risk reduction via diversification into other asset classes.

• The companies we are invested in have strong balance sheets with barely any net leverage, but regularly a lot of cash. They are strongly cash-generative and managed very conservatively. We are confident that a crisis would not endanger the continuity of this set of companies.