Charles de Vaulx, the longtime protégé and successor to famed value investor Jean-Marie Eveillard of First Eagle Funds, last month joined four other First Eagle veterans who had set up International Value Advisers last December. “He is to us what John Lennon was to the Beatles,” raves Charles de Lardemelle, chief investment officer of IVA and a former associate portfolio manager at Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder Advisers, First Eagle Funds’ advisory firm. Before leaving First Eagle in March 2007, de Vaulx, 46, had maintained Eveillard’s impressive track record after taking over in 2004. Returns on its global fund hit 20.5 percent in 2006, 3.9 percent more than those of its peers. IVA follows Eveillard’s value investment philosophy, emphasizing downside protection and absolute returns. The firm manages $275 million.
