Remembering William Polk Carey: A Legendary Black Swan Investor

Source: Dudley Reed Photography

The oldest known reference to a “black swan” comes from the poet Juvenal’s characterization (in Latin) of something being “rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno,” or as translated in English means “a rare bird in the lands, and very like a black swan.”
When this early phrase was coined, the black swan was presumed not to exist and it was more of a legendary bird with attributes identifiable by excellence and superior intelligence.
In addition to the black swan’s rare plumage, the unique bird was portrayed as a visionary leader with extraordinary intellect.
Wm. Polk Carey was also a rare entrepreneur, leader and investor. Beginning from his birth in 1930 (during the depression), Carey spent his childhood determined to make a difference in the world.
His passion and vision were the foundational straws for a global investment operation–W.P. Carey & Co., LLC–that has survived more than four decades of prosperity and success. As a descendant of James F. Polk (the 11th President of the United States), Carey’s insightful investment perspectives were far-reaching as the “black swan” was a visionary leader in the essence of risk-control and his sound risk-management strategies were evolutionary.
After graduating from the Wharton School (in 1953) with a degree in economics, Carey held senior positions in prominent investment firms. He then focused his defensive investment career on providing consistent and durable income products differentiated by sound, risk-aligned fundamentals. In 1973, he started W.P. Carey & Co. and his real estate model, built on risk-avoidance principles, became the pioneer and leader in sale-leaseback investing.
One of the “black swan’s” strongest sources of differentiation is also one of the company’s principle objectives –“Investing for the Long Run ™ ”–for Carey spent his entire life, staring from his earliest childhood days, striving to be a leader and teacher of honesty, humility and loyalty. That dedication to purpose has been the wind behind the “black swan” and the company’s highly sustainable model rooted by integrity and skillful risk control–the mark of a superior investor.
Carey’s investment philosophy, “Investing for the Long Run ™” became a fitting measure for shareholder and investor performance as the company’s strategy of financing the growth of worthy companies became a beacon for other “black swans” to follow.  As Howard Marks, author of The Most Important Thing wrote, “Successful investing is about managing risk, not avoiding it.” Carey was perhaps one of the leaders in managing investor risk and his innovative risk-aligned real estate products have grown to global proportions.
Today W.P. Carey is the leading global net-lease investor with assets of just under $12 billion in 18 countries across 28 different industries. As Carey once said, “we (W.P. Carey) are unique. No other company has the same business mix or approach.”
As a global triple-net lease investor, W.P. Carey built its sound sale-leaseback platform on broad diversification fundamentals. Some of the strategically risk-aligned tenants include Sun Products ($41 million), Tesco ($90 million), The New York Times (NYT) ($225 million), Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) ($18.5 million), and Hellweg Die Profi-Baumärkte (the company’s largest transaction to date at $446 million).
And this “black swan” approach has provided for some exceptional performance as the company has increased its dividend every year since it went public in 1998 and for the most recent 43 consecutive quarters. Since the introduction of the first investment program in 1979, W.P. Carey and its affiliates have paid more than $3.8 billion to investors over 640 consecutive quarterly cash distributions.

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