Eveillard and Englander Shun Leverage, Beat Rivals

(Bloomberg) Jean-Marie Eveillard, who beat 99 percent of rival equity fund managers last year by hoarding cash instead of borrowing it, is loading up on Japanese insurers and Hong Kong developers.

“Leverage eliminates your staying power,” said Eveillard, whose $16.8 billion First Eagle Global Fund beat the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index every year this decade. “If things go well, you look even better, but if things go badly, you end up doing worse,” he said in an interview from his office at Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder Advisers LLC overlooking Central Park in New York. “You could blow up if big leverage is being used.”

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