By Ben Rundle | Portfolio Manager at NAOS Asset Management

Alfred Taubman is known in the US for designing the modern indoor shopping mall as we know them today.

Taubman talks about the ideal mall concept he created in the 1970’s, he describes a very similar mall to what you would see today at your local Westfield shopping centre. He highlights the need for car parking both on the roof and in the basement, open atriums between levels so that shoppers can see the shops on other levels, huge skylights above and welcoming shop fronts.

After a hugely successful development career, Taubman then turned his sights on other businesses, buying Sotheby’s auction house in 1983, acting as a white knight when the company was threatened by an unwanted hostile takeover. He took the company public in 1988 making another fortune in the process. In 2003, the listed Taubman Centers survived a hostile takeover bid from Simon Property and Westfield. Alfred Taubman died in 2015 but his investment techniques are still as relevant today as they were in his prime.

An easy and insightful holiday read.

Link to book