What if the biggest edge in manager selection wasn't due diligence, but ownership — literally betting your own balance sheet alongside the managers you back?
In this episode of Insight is Capital, host Pierre Daillie sits down with Ash Lawrence, Head of AGF Capital Partners, to unpack a strategy that flips traditional manager selection on its head: AGF doesn't just allocate capital to alternative managers, it takes meaningful ownership stakes in them. Ash explains why AGF holds majority or significant equity in New Holland Capital, Kensington Capital Partners, and SAF Group — three managers spanning absolute return, private credit, private equity, and venture capital — and how that ownership model delivers deeper transparency, better alignment, and real accountability that a typical sub-advisory relationship can't match.
The conversation dives into how AGF preserves each manager's operational independence and culture, why sequencing alternatives allocations depends on an advisor's experience level, and where 2026 has tested (and rewarded) each strategy: private equity distributions stuck at GFC-era lows, a resurgence in venture capital fueled by AI and defense tech, and commodity and macro dislocations creating opportunity for tactical strategies like New Holland's Tactical Alpha.
Ash also shares a candid take on Kensington's defense and security platform, One9, and why institutional appetite for the sector is shifting from cautious curiosity to conviction. The episode closes with Ash's most important advice for advisors considering their first alternatives allocation: understand fund structure and gating mechanisms before you understand the underlying strategy, and never let headlines drive an investment decision.
TIMESTAMPED CHAPTERS
0:00 – Introduction: AGF's ownership-backed model
0:47 – Meet Ash Lawrence, Head of AGF Capital Partners
1:58 – 2026's volatile market landscape
3:00 – Bond diversification challenges and long-term conviction
5:04 – Manager selection vs. taking ownership stakes
6:58 – Ash's philosophy: why ownership beats sub-advisory
9:05 – What ownership reveals that outside due diligence can't
13:32 – Preserving operational independence at New Holland, Kensington, and SAF
18:03 – Three mandates, one platform: sequencing alternatives for advisors
21:41 – New Holland's Tactical Alpha: the "utility player" strategy
24:00 – 2026 stress test: private equity distributions at GFC-era lows
27:52 – Venture capital's rebound and the rise of defense tech
30:57 – Conviction, capital, and the discipline to buy the dip
37:34 – New Holland's second-half opportunities in commodities and macro
39:37 – Kensington One Nine: the defense and security inflection point
47:56 – The most important thing advisors still misunderstand about alternatives
50:23 – Why headlines are a bad investment timing tool
53:37 – Closing thoughts: "You win or you learn"
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