For international equity investors these days, working without an array of technological equipment is inconceivable. When Art Lerner began actively to invest in 1969, though, his main tool was the telephone. Even then it could be frustrating. "Back when I started, the companies we visited were usually shareholder unfriendly. There was very little information or research material available - some annual reports didn't even have an English version. You could ring up a company in, say, the Netherlands and have the CFO say to you: 'What do you care for? We run the company, we make money, and that's that.' Of course, they were salaried staff, and had no incentive to improve the share price."
A warmer attitude to investors is one of the main changes Lerner has noted during his 30 years as an international equity investor. For all that time he has worked for the investment banking and asset management boutique Arnhold & S Bleichroeder, initially a German company set up at the start of the 19th century that moved its operations to the US in 1937. With its strong connections with Europe, it is hardly surprising that the firm was investing in international equities long before the concept was fashionable.