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Barron’s has a great 2010 article, Backstage Power, on activist Alexander Roepers’s investment approach:

By the time he was 25, the Dutch polyglot—French and German in addition to English and his native language—was already elbow deep in such deals as the head of corporate development in the U.S. for another company. In four years, “I did an incredible number of deals,” including the due diligence and valuation, as well as the structuring or restructuring of companies. That process led to his investment style at Atlantic, which considers industries “that you and I can understand and we can explain to our moms and dads.”

That typically means packaging, aerospace, pumps and valves, industrial materials, specialty chemicals, information-technology services and food companies.

Roepers looks for stocks between $1 billion and $20 billion in market cap, with investment-grade balance sheets and low interest expense. He also seeks profitable companies with 10%-plus free-cash-flow yields, high barriers to entry and low insider ownership. His purchases sport enterprise value (market cap plus net debt) multiples of roughly five to six times future earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda. The firm is especially interested in stocks where there’s potential for an earnings turnaround or corporate restructuring.

His flagship hedge vehicles, AJR fund and Cambrian U.S. fund, both still open to new investment and unleveraged, have easily beaten the Standard and Poor’s 500 index since inception. AJR has posted a 14% annualized total return from its start in 1993, compared with about 8% for the S&P 500. Long-only Cambrian U.S. has returned 21% a year since its 1992 beginning, versus the S&P 500’s 8.4% annualized gain in that time.

Reopers is speaking at this year’s New York Value Investing Congress on October 1st and 2nd, along with Bill Ackman, David Einhorn or Jeffrey W. Ubben of ValueAct (each of whom alone are worth the price of admission).

Discount: Register by September 7, 2012 and you’ll pay $3,295.That’s a total savings $1,400 from the $4,695 others will pay later to attend!  Click here to save $1,400 off the usual price of admission by clicking here and using discount code: N11GB2.

Here’s the list of managers presenting:

• Bill Ackman, Pershing Square
• David Einhorn, Greenlight Capital
• Jeffrey W. Ubben, ValueAct Capital
• Alexander Roepers, Atlantic Investment Management
• Guy Gottfried, Rational Investment Group
• Bob Robotti, Robotti & Company Advisors
• Lloyd Khaner, Khaner Capital
• Mick McGuire, Marcato Capital Management
• John Mauldin, Millennium Wave Advisors
• Barry Rosenstein, JANA Partners
• Kian Ghazi, Hawkshaw Capital Management
• Glenn Tongue, T2 Partners
• Whitney Tilson, T2 Partners

The discount for Greenbackd readers expires in seven days, so take advantage now. Click here to receive the discount.