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LETER TO THE TEAM

INTERNAL USE www.spxcapital.com

08.2026

“It is not possible to plan years ahead step by step, and trying to do so is a great distraction from what really matters: living in the present. What counts is having an idea, however vague, of where we want to go, and striving every day to bring ourselves closer to that objective.” Pedro Flores Equities Longs Senior Research Specialist

MESSAGE FROM THE PARTNER Pedro Flores

Equities Longs Senior Research Specialist

“

If the dots can only be connected looking backwards, the practical implication is that there is no point trying to draw them in advance.”

— Author unknown

EIn 2005, Steve Jobs gave a historic commencement speech at Stanford in which he argued that the most important choices in his life had made no sense at the time they were taken. In practice, they were decisions that only gained meaning when viewed in hindsight. “You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect

them looking backwards”. When I received the invitation to write this letter, that MESSAGE FROM THE PARTNER

message immediately sprang to mind, because my arrival at SPX came by way of a rather unconventional path. I was born and raised in Brasília. Almost every Sunday, when my father (an economist) took me to visit my grandmother, he would leave me playing in her study, which had toys and, aside from

those, my father´s old books from university. As I grew older, my interest migrated from the toys to the books and, gradually, I found myself reading about macro/micro well before actually starting university. As a consequence, the decision

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LETTER TO THE TEAM

to read economics became a very natural one.

Back in Brasília, I came to the conclusion that this financial market was a huge

I enrolled at University of Brasília (UnB) convinced that I would be pursuing an academic career. To be honest, that

industry and, more precisely, that what I really wanted to do was to work in company analysis. That became quite evident during my internship at CADE (Brazil’s competition

did not appeal to me as a vocation.

valuation and accounting, for example.

conviction had little foundation. It was an extension of my fondness for studying and of how easily exams came to me, and so a master’s and a PhD seemed the natural path. However, as I gained more academic experience, I came to realise that academia

authority), where I learnt important concepts such as competitive advantage, market power and structure, etc. The finance modules I took at university were also important, as they introduced, even in a rudimentary way, the more technical side of

The turning point came during a summer course at the London School of Economics. It was a profound experience for me. I was in

By that stage, it was certain that I wanted to work at a credit or equity management company. The problem is that this industry

nothing was very clear at that moment.

in Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo, just so I could intern at a fund management company before graduating.

an incredible university and interacting with excellent professors, but I could not see myself doing that as an end in itself. I remember coming home after my first exam with a certain sense of emptiness; the need to rethink my goals and outlook for the years ahead was becoming clear, and

I got off at some random station and stopped at a pub for a beer. As it happened, I

ran into a colleague who was on the same course as me, and he was there with two other older friends who worked as traders at J.P. Morgan. I spent the rest of the evening pestering them both about what their day-to-day was like and what they actually did. However trivial that

conversation may have been, I left with a clear idea that the dynamism I missed in academia could possibly be found in the financial markets. MESSAGE FROM THE PARTNER

simply does not exist in Brasília; and joining a fund management company in Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo after graduating did not strike me as a simple task. I’ll admit that it was a period that had me worrying a lot, during which I even considered leaving UnB and trying to finish my degree at a university

The opportunity eventually arose in the form of a holiday internship at a Rio-based fund management company, in the macroeconomics area. It was not exactly the path I had imagined taking, but it certainly represented an important step towards the goal I had in mind. I remember that, at the time, I was reading Luciana Seabra’s book, in which she interviews a number of fund managers. What struck me most was realising that many of them had built rather

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LETTER TO THE TEAM

non-linear professional trajectories. In particular, I recall the interview with Leonardo Linhares — whom, until then, I only knew by name — in which he described his own journey through the macroeconomics field. At the end of the holiday internship, I was taken permanently by the firm’s macro team.

After a year at that firm, a new opportunity arose: to work in equities at SPX, directly in Leonardo Linhares’s area. It was exactly

what I wanted, so I applied for the position immediately and ended up being hired — which, in hindsight, I believe was a risky hiring decision. I had no experience in equities, much less in the utilities sector, which was the sector I took on when I joined and continue to cover to this day. I think my hiring took my profile into account more than my experience as such, and I am extremely grateful that they took that risk.

I close this letter by returning to the opening

quotation. If the dots can only be connected looking backwards, the practical implication is that there is no point trying to draw them in advance. There is a line from the physician

William Osler, in an address at Yale in 1913, that sums this idea up well: “live in day-tight compartments”. Osler compared our days to the watertight compartments of a ship, which are sealed off so that the entire hull is not flooded. If I could talk to myself 10 years ago, this would be the main message I would pass on. It is not possible to plan years ahead step by step, and trying to do so is a great distraction from what really matters: living n the present. What counts is MESSAGE FROM THE PARTNER

having an idea, however vague, of where we want to go, and striving every day to bring ourselves closer to that objective. Good luck to us all!

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LETTER TO TEAM

Meeting with the Partners In July, the Rio de Janeiro office hosted two more special editions of the Meeting with the Partners: Breakfast with Bruno Mafra: Our Head of Quant Desk addressed the challenge of building a

systematic management area (focused on data, statistical models and algorithms) within an asset management company renowned for its discretionary management.

Coffee Break with Tiago Fernandes: Our Head of Currencies shared his journey at SPX, his market

views and career insights.

At the end of the events, we opened the floor for an informal chat, allowing participants to ask questions and exchange ideas directly with the partners.

Thank you to everyone who took part! The conversations were inspiring and enriching.

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LETTER TO THE TEAM

Welcoming Students from PUC Paraná We welcomed students from PUC Paraná to the São Paulo office, where they spoke with Beatriz Pina, from Investor Relations, Leonardo Lima, from Equities, and Pedro

Daltro, from Real Estate. On this occasion, they were able to discuss the job market, explore career opportunities and ask questions about the firm’s different areas.

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LETTER TO THE TEAM