The Acquirers Podcast · Thursday, October 1, 2026
Jonathan Boyar discusses Markel, acknowledging it as an attractive investment with a reasonable valuation (1.2 times book value) and potential for improvement, especially following activist involvement. However, he cautions against calling it the 'next Berkshire Hathaway,' emphasizing that Berkshire is unique. Boyar notes Markel missed the recent hard insurance market but appears to be turning around its underwriting, with promising combined ratios.
“Is it the next berkshire hathaway i no i i mean i i think it's a an attractive investment i think there's only one berkshire hathaway i think i think markel has great days ahead of it.”
“But I don't want to be disingenuous and say it's an I know it's good for headlines and et cetera. But it's not. You have a company that's selling for, you know, one point two times book that, you know, over the last couple of years missed the heart. It missed a hard insurance market.”
“They were not good at writing insurance, which is a problem for an insurance company. But it seems like they're they're turning it around. promising combined ratios going down.”