Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
Today’s podcast takes us to the heart of London, where we sat down with Maggie Fanari, the CEO of J Rothschild Capital Management Limited, manager of RIT Capital Partners plc.
RIT blends a rich heritage with a modern approach to both asset allocation and private markets.
Lord Jacob Rothschild founded Rothschild Investment Trust in 1971. RIT listed on the London Stock Exchange with total assets of £280M. Today, the firm stands tall as one of the UK’s largest investment trusts with over £4.7B of total assets.
The firm’s permanent capital and family office heritage have enabled the firm to think long-term, according to Maggie. “Permanent capital is a privilege,” she said.
Maggie has brought an institutional allocator’s background to RIT. She joined as CEO of RIT from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in 2024, where she was Senior Managing Director, Global Group Head of High Conviction Equities at OTPP, which has a global mandate to invest in public and private companies.
Maggie and I had a fascinating discussion about how the firm invests across public and private markets, balancing both top-down portfolio construction and bottom-up asset selection. We covered:
- How RIT has aimed to compound wealth over time.
- Why top-down portfolio construction and bottom-up asset allocation are equally important.
- How can investors capture as much growth, limit market volatility, and compound growth over a long period of time?
- How RIT finds unique and different managers in private markets, which includes some of the top investors in the world.
- What market structure changes mean for investing across public and private markets?
- How to invest when the world order has changed.
- Taking a family office mindset and applying that investment mindset for investors in RIT.
- Why permanent capital is a privilege.
- How to be early to a theme rather than chase the trend.
- Why RIT decided to invest in SpaceX, Anthropic, OpenAI, Databricks, and Epic Systems.
- Where do investors bucket RIT into their asset allocation?
- What is a manager’s edge and how can they apply that edge with consistency?
- Why depth of network matters for private markets managers.
- Why RIT invested in firms like Thrive, Greenoaks, and Ribbit.
Bio
Maggie Fanari is the CEO of J. Rothschild Capital Management Limited (JRCM) , investment manager for RIT Capital Partners plc. She is Chair of JRCM’s Investment Committee.
Maggie was previously Senior Managing Director, Global Group Head of High Conviction Equities at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which has a global mandate to invest in public and private companies.
At Ontario Teachers’, she served as a member of many of the pension plan’s investment committees. She was involved in the execution of investments across a variety of asset classes (private and public), including supporting the development and execution of the venture and growth business.
Before joining Ontario Teachers’, Maggie worked at KPMG and Scotia Capital. Maggie is a chartered accountant and a CFA charter holder. She also holds a BBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University and ICD.D certification from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
Maggie served as a non-executive director on the Board of RIT Capital Partners plc from April 2019 to February 2024.
Thanks, Maggie, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion across public and private markets and your thoughtful perspectives from your experiences as an institutional investor.
This podcast was recorded on 15 June 2026, and therefore all RIT data is provided as at 31/05/2026.
Show Notes
00:42 Meet Maggie Fanari
03:44 Teachers’ Pension Roots
04:51 Top Down Meets Bottom Up
05:50 Allocating In New Paradigm
06:15 Diversification Returns
07:02 Volatility Creates Opportunity
07:22 What Makes RIT Unique
08:08 Compounding With Downside
09:41 Brand Opens Doors
10:05 Backing Emerging Managers
11:57 Co-Invest Importance
12:36 Returns And Realizations
13:22 Great Co-Investor Playbook
15:02 Building AI Theme Exposure
16:06 Sourcing Deals Like SpaceX
16:37 Public Private Value Split
20:09 Public Themes And Sovereignty
20:58 Moats And Terminal Value
24:06 Permanent Capital Edge
25:07 Oversubscribed Fund Access
26:46 Underwriting And Discipline
27:17 Why AI Needs Capital
27:49 Anthropic Growth Math
28:15 Databricks Scale Comparison
28:41 Can Funds Get Bigger
30:22 FOMO And Chasing
30:47 Portfolio Allocation Guardrails
31:47 Permanent Capital Advantage
32:13 Right Sized Private Exposure
32:51 Liquidity And Realizations
33:28 Owning Winners At Scale
34:11 Private To Public Hold
34:41 Re Underwriting Post IPO
35:38 Retail Investor Impact
36:20 Public Market Liquidity Needs
37:57 Why Investment Trusts Work
38:56 Discounts As Margin Safety
40:08 How Shareholders Allocate
41:03 Sentiment Shifts In Cycles
42:02 What Makes Great Managers
43:14 Manager Edge Examples
45:02 AI And Finding Leaders
46:56 Consolidation And Differentiation
47:51 Being A Great LP Partner
48:50 Macro Lens As Edge
49:42 Private Signals Inform Public
50:48 Culture One Team One NAV
51:28 Risk And Scenario Analysis
52:59 Multipolar World Investing
54:14 Geopolitics In Diligence
55:10 Permanent Capital Best Of Both
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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.
