Merryn Talks Money Why Contrarians Can't Get Enough of Real Assets
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Mar 16, 2026 Alec Cutler, contrarian investor who runs Orbis’s Global Balanced and Cautious funds, explains his “pyramid of needs” for nations. He discusses the shift from speculative tech to energy, infrastructure and national security. Conversations cover AI infrastructure links to energy and semiconductors, North Sea and UK energy solutions, Japan’s appeal, and resource‑rich sovereign opportunities.
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Pyramid Of Needs Drives Contrarian Opportunities
- Nations prioritize foundational needs like energy, food, and national security before wants, shaping long-term investment opportunities.
- Alec Cutler maps this to a "pyramid of needs" for countries to find undervalued real-asset investments that support those foundations.
AI Winners Are Its Consumable Suppliers
- Investment capital is rotating from speculative AI winners toward the infrastructure and resource companies that actually enable AI.
- Cutler points to Taiwan Semiconductor and U.S. gas producers as the real beneficiaries of the AI boom.
Buy Solutions Not Excuses In Troubled Markets
- Invest in solutions to a country's energy problems rather than avoiding that country entirely because of current policy mistakes.
- Orbis holds UK names like Rolls-Royce and Balfour Beatty that provide infrastructure fixes bought at low valuations.