Types of Clients
SQ Advisors provides investment advisory and portfolio management services primarily to high net
worth individuals, individuals, trusts, estates, endowments, foundations, charitable organizations,
pooled investment vehicles, and corporations or other businesses.
At the onset of a new client relationship, SQ Advisors generally requires a minimum of $10 million
in assets under management for the establishment and maintenance of an investment advisory
account. At its discretion, SQ Advisors may waive the minimum amount required to establish an
investment advisory account.
Investment Strategies, Methods of Analysis, and Risk of Loss
Investment Strategy and Methods of Analysis
As previously mentioned, SQ Advisors offers a concentrated investment strategy focused on
holding a limited number of long equity positions. SQ Advisors employs a largely unconstrained
approach that seeks to maximize long-term total returns for clients. For example, SQ Advisors is
not constrained by geography, sector, industry, or market capitalization in seeking investment
opportunities for clients. SQ Advisors invests primarily in common stock positions and depositary
receipts (e.g., ADRs), but is permitted to invest in preferred stock, convertible bonds, exchange-
traded funds, mutual funds, REITs, foreign securities, and cash in order to execute its investment
strategy for clients. SQ Advisors’ investment strategy is generally long-term and intended to have
relatively low portfolio turnover.
SQ Advisors’ investment management strategy for clients is developed and implemented using the
following Company principles as guidelines:
• Think independently
• Invest in high-return businesses run for the shareholders
• Pay only a reasonable price, even for an excellent business
• Invest for the long-term
• Do not diversify excessively
Generally, SQ Advisors believes that identifying a significant difference between the market value
of a security and the intrinsic value of that security is what defines an investment opportunity.
SQ Advisors’ primary method of analysis is fundamental research. Typically, this research involves
scrutinizing corporate reports, press releases, financial statements, documents filed with the SEC or
other regulatory entities, court filings, newspaper, magazine, internet articles, audio or transcripts
of conference calls, presentations, conversations with the firm and/or competitors, and third-party
research materials. Mr. Louis A. Simpson has final authority to make investment decisions on
behalf of clients.
Risk of Loss
All investing involves a risk of loss that clients should be prepared to bear. The investment strategy
offered by SQ Advisors could lose money over short or long periods of time. Identifying
undervalued securities and other assets is difficult, and there are no assurances that SQ Advisors’
investment strategy will succeed. Furthermore, clients may be forced to hold such investments for
a substantial period of time before realizing any anticipated value. SQ Advisors cannot give any
guarantee that it will achieve a client’s investment objectives or that clients will receive a return of
its investment. Below is a summary of potentially material risks for SQ Advisors’ investment
strategy.
• Dependence on Key Individual – The management of client portfolios is dependent on the
continued service and active investment efforts of the Chairman and CIO, Mr. Louis A.
Simpson.
• Lack of Diversification – The Company’s investment strategy will generally hold less than
20 stocks, which means that it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in the securities
of fewer issuers. Holding fewer securities may increase volatility of returns.
• Stock Market Risk – There is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets
tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.
• Underlying Business Risks – Investments in securities entails all the risks associated with
the underlying businesses, including reliance on a company’s managers and their ability to
execute business strategies. In addition, all businesses face risks such as adverse changes in
regulatory requirements, interest rate and currency fluctuations, general economic
downturns, changes in political situations, market competitions and other factors. SQ
Advisors will not have day-to-day control over any company in which it invests for clients.
• Cybersecurity Risk – SQ Advisors relies on the use of technologies to conduct business, and
is susceptible to operational, information security and related risks, including risks of
unintentional cyber incidents and deliberate cyberattacks. Cyberattacks include, but are not
limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (e.g., through “hacking” or
malicious software coding) for purposes of corrupting data, or causing operational disruption,
as well as denial-of-service attacks on websites. Cyber incidents may cause disruptions and
impact business operations, potentially resulting in financial losses, interference with a
client’s ability to value its securities or account investments, impediments to trading,
violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational
damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs. While
SQ Advisors and its most significant counterparties and vendors have established business
continuity plans and risk management systems to help mitigate cyber incidents, there are
inherent limitations in such plans and systems that SQ Advisors is not in a position to control.