In the competition for capital in the hedge fund industry, how critical are your team and senior-level relationships to establishing both your brand and your performance record? In this episode of the Thematic Investors podcast, we sit down with Rob Citrone, Founder and Portfolio Manager of Discovery Capital Management, to explore his career path, investment philosophy in emerging markets, and more. Click the player below to listen to Rob’s insights and analysis.
Kieran Cavanna, Host of Thematic Investors Podcast Series
(Hit the play button on the podcast player above to listen to this episode).
Many successful careers in institutional investing are forged early from a high degree of passion, curiosity, and discipline in the space. These traits accelerate your learning curve and help you build a network that keeps you competitive over the long term. For those investors specializing in emerging markets, you add a focus on politics and whether leaders in those markets can actually implement the policies underpinning your investment thesis. In this sector, favorable economics won’t always save the day if the politics turn south.
In our first episode of the 2026 season, the Thematic Investors podcast welcomes Rob Citrone, Founder and Portfolio Manager, Discovery Capital Management, LLC, to discuss his 35 years in investing and how he continues to achieve a front row seat to emerging market trends. Key points in the podcast include:
- How important is a network of senior officials inside each emerging country to help further diagnose investment opportunities?
- How a morning golf game can change your perspective on technology investing and AI.
- Why do some cycles for emerging market investments (like Argentina) act like ‘movie remakes’, but during the remake allow for more proactive investments into better ‘actors’, ‘camera angles’, and more?
- What does Rob see when investing in Europe in both short and longer-term periods?
- Policies under President Trump, and Marco Rubio at the State Department, and how that will shape foreign policy and economics in the next three years in terms of GDP, future tariffs, and inflation.
- What has changed in the country of Nigeria, and why is it a ~6.5% performance winner towards Discovery’s fund?
- Rob’s future view on gold (will it hit 6,000), and what he sees from the US dollar, and other currencies.
- How Rob and his team look at volatility, efficiency of the markets, and diversification as it relates to regional asset classes, and why he believes the market is dumber than it’s ever been in history.
- And more.
Robert Citrone is the Founder and Portfolio Manager of Discovery Capital, a global macro investment firm he launched in 1999. With more than three decades of experience, he has built a career focused on emerging and developed markets, combining political analysis, policy insight, and fundamental research across equities, currencies, rates, and credit. Prior to founding Discovery Capital, Robert worked at Fidelity Investments, where he helped establish its emerging markets fixed income and currency group, and previously spent time at Tiger Management. He is known for his global perspective, extensive on the ground experience, and long standing relationships with policymakers and market participants around the world.
Kieran Cavanna is the Co-Founder and CIO of Old Farm Partners. Old Farm is a hedge fund allocation firm focusing on small and mid-sized hedge funds, as well as co-investment opportunities with $600m under management. Prior to Old Farm, Mr. Cavanna worked at Soros Fund Management where he served as the Head of the External Manager Selection team. Mr. Cavanna and his team performed due diligence on and allocated to a select group of hedge funds that deployed a wide variety of hedge fund strategies. Prior to Soros, Kieran was a Partner and the Head of Research at Titan Advisors, a $5b fund-of-hedge funds. In total Mr. Cavanna has been allocating to hedge funds for 18 years. Mr. Cavanna started his financial career at KPMG Consulting as Senior Analyst. Mr. Cavanna graduated from the University of Richmond with a BA and received an MBA from Vanderbilt University.
Please note, the information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest, and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial and or our host, Kieran Cavanna. The content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding investment planning.
