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.

RIT Capital Partners' Maggie Fanari - why permanent capital is a privilege

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RIT Capital Partners' Maggie Fanari - why permanent capital is a privilege