White Mountains: Manning Rountree on Value Creation and Partnership

Manning and Ross cover a lot of ground, starting with Southeastern’s history of investing in White Mountains multiple times, dating back to its predecessor Fireman’s Fund under the leadership of Jack Byrne in the ‘80s. Manning talks about how he joined White Mountains and discusses how the spirit of Jack Byrne still lives on at White Mountains today. Next, Manning answers what makes insurance a good (or not so good) business and how White Mountains is uniquely advantaged within that space. He then talks about how the company attracts and adds value through great partnerships, like NSM, including a discussion of White Mountain’s sell discipline. Manning talks in detail about its partnerships with Kudu, BAM and PassportCard, as well as MAX, Bamboo and WM Partners. He discusses how White Mountains determines what future deals will be a good fit and also talks about how he thinks about share repurchase. Finally, Manning shares a bit about his personal hobbies.