New Global Order
Contact
The New Global Order: Modern Mercantilism
The global economic and geopolitical landscape is undergoing a profound transformation, characterized by interconnected forces that are reshaping markets and investment opportunities. Institutional investors must adapt their strategies to navigate this complex environment, where traditional assumptions about globalization and market efficiency are being challenged.
Rise of Protectionism
A notable resurgence in tariffs, non-tariff barriers, and strategic trade disputes is fragmenting global supply chains. Nations increasingly prioritize national security and domestic industrial resilience, leading to policies like reshoring and friendshoring. This trend, exemplified by US-China trade tensions and the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, necessitates a re-evaluation of international supply chain risk and operational costs.
AI & Digital Transformation
Artificial intelligence, automation, and digital technologies are driving unprecedented shifts in productivity, labor markets, and the competitive landscape. The "chip wars" and massive investments in AI infrastructure underscore the strategic importance of technological leadership. This creates significant alpha opportunities in innovative sectors but also introduces new regulatory and data sovereignty challenges for global firms.
Emergence of Regional Powers
The global order is evolving towards multipolarity, with rising regional powers like China, India, and the expanded BRICS bloc challenging established hegemonies. This shift manifests in new geopolitical alliances, regional trade agreements, and increased competition for influence. For investors, this implies a diversification of geopolitical risk, the rise of new regional investment hubs, and shifts in global governance frameworks.
Modern Mercantilism
These forces converge into a new era of modern mercantilism, where states actively intervene to advance national economic interests through industrial policies, subsidies, and strategic investments in key sectors. This contrasts sharply with the neoliberal globalization of previous decades, demanding that investors analyze state-backed initiatives, strategic industry plays, and increased regulatory complexity when allocating capital.
Understanding these dynamics is crucial for institutional investors seeking to identify resilient assets, mitigate emerging risks, and position portfolios for long-term growth in a profoundly reconfigured global economy.
Opportunity in Dislocation: Navigating Shifting Markets
The recent deceleration in private equity and private real estate transaction volumes, largely driven by rapidly rising interest rates, presents a unique market dynamic. This shift has prompted a flight to quality, as LPs increasingly seek the stability and proven expertise of established investment managers.
The movement of capital formation toward investment management behemoths has left world-class talent behind - particularly in the middle markets - creating a compelling opportunity to partner with sector specialists with deep operational and market expertise.
Our edge is in the power of our durable and trusted relationships.
We create differentiated investment opportunities with the some of the world's most accomplished and successful investment managers.
We believe in the compounding, enduring effect of positive and rewarding relationships that have been built slowly and over time.
Our Philosophy
True investment success is about building enduring value through disciplined, rational, and principled action that puts investors first.
Compounding Trust
Like the steady accumulation of capital, trust in relationships compounds over time. We cultivate deep, long-standing partnerships with our clients, fostering a shared understanding and mutual commitment that serves as a powerful, often overlooked, competitive advantage in investment management.
Focusing on the Controllable
We distinguish between what we can control and what we cannot. In investment, this means rigorously focusing on risks within our immediate influence – our research, asset allocation, and decision-making processes – rather than reacting to uncontrollable market noise. This disciplined approach often leads to outperformance per unit of risk taken.
Disciplined Decision-Making
We encourage rational thought over impulsive reactions. We adhere to a structured, evidence-based framework, ensuring every investment decision is carefully weighed against our long-term objectives and risk parameters, free from emotional bias.
Emotional Equilibrium in Volatility
Volatile markets test the emotional fortitude of investors. By embracing equanimity and resilience, we maintain emotional discipline and rational thinking, avoiding panic during downturns and overconfidence during upturns. This steadiness is crucial for navigating market cycles successfully.
Patience, Wisdom, and Principled Action
Building enduring value requires patience to allow strategies to mature, wisdom to discern genuine opportunities, and principled action to stay true to our investment philosophy. These virtues guide us in constructing portfolios designed for sustained prosperity, transcending short-term market fluctuations.
Focus, Process, and Temperament
Our philosophy integrates rigorous analysis with essential behavioral principles to foster enduring value and mitigate systemic risk.
Intentional Cadence
We prioritize deep, unhurried analysis, resisting market noise to ensure every decision is grounded in conviction, not reaction or fleeting trends.
Adaptive Process
Our rigorous framework is built on intellectual humility, constantly refined by data and experience, acknowledging the limits of foresight and embracing continuous learning.
Principled Engagement
We cultivate relationships based on kindness and mutual respect, believing that ethical stewardship and collaborative trust are fundamental to long-term success in complex markets.
We focus on outstanding
strategies with exceptional people.
We invest in alternative, non-correlated opportunities that are supported by macro-economic tailwinds and strong fundamentals.
We are interested in working with teams that have demonstrated operational excellence, niche expertise, and have a superior track record of consistent investment outperformance.
We seek people well aligned in our commitment to being deeply curious, intellectually rigorous, transparent, humble, and respectful.
The spirit of an agreement and a commitment to people for the long-term matter.
Focus
People that we know, respect, and trust.
Platforms that are stable, proven, and intelligently designed to prosper.
A Process that is simple and clear, and reflective of a continuous commitment to excellence.
Performance that is consistent - and demonstrates a reliance on judgment and skill - so as to increase the probability of enjoying the fruits of luck.
Proper alignment of economic interests that incentivize all parties for a rewarding future.
  • In 2011, Benjamin Adams created the Defined Contribution Real Estate Council Our mission is to promote the inclusion of investments in direct commercial real estate and real estate securities within defined contribution plans in order to improve participant outcomes by furthering education about, advocacy for, and best practices of such investments.
  • DCREC's mission is to promote the inclusion of investments in direct commercial real estate and real estate securities within defined contribution plans in order to improve participant outcomes by furthering education about, advocacy for, and best practices of such investments.
  • Membership reflects over $1.4 trillion in collective assets under management, a who's who of institutional private equity real estate actors
Benjamin Adams
Ben is a graduate of Miami University and Georgetown University Law Center. He served as the Special Assistant to the White House Counsel in the Clinton Administration, practiced law at Greenberg Traurig LLP, and oversaw the discretionary investment management business of the Townsend Group. He currently serves as an independent director of the Townsend Group. He founded and created Ten Capital Management, a middle market, fundamental-value driven investment management business, where he also served as CEO. He also founded and created the Defined Contribution Real Estate Council, and is an independent director of Generation Income Properties (Nasdaq: GIPR). He is a Rothman Fellow at the Friends of the American Technion Society.
Carmela Guerrero
Carmela is a graduate of Stuyvesant High School, University of Michigan and The Yale Law School. She oversaw institutional real estate portfolios for pension plans at The Townsend Group, and is an alumnus of Davis, Polk & Wardell. She founded and created Ten Capital Management, a middle market, fundamental-value driven investment management business, where she also served as COO. She has served on the boards of JHUB and Front: International art exhibition. She is fluent in French and understands Visayan.
www.rockhouse-capital.com
100 Park Avenue, Suite 400 Orange Village, Ohio 44120