William Alexander von Mueffling's Trades and Holdings in Q4 2025

Breaking down the stocks William Alexander von Mueffling (Cantillon) bought, sold, and held in Q4 2025, including their holdings at the end of the quarter. All data sourced from Cantillon's 13F filed on February 11, 2026.

Who are William von Mueffling and Cantillon Capital Management?

Cantillon Capital Management is a global equity investment firm founded in 2003 by William von Mueffling, who previously achieved prominence at Lazard Asset Management for his prescient bearish stance during the dot-com bubble. Managing over $14 billion in assets, Cantillon employs a fundamental, research-intensive approach focused on high-quality companies with sustainable competitive advantages and strong free cash flow generation. Von Mueffling's disciplined investment process emphasizes capital preservation alongside long-term growth, resulting in a strong track record of risk-adjusted returns.

Cantillon.com
Wikipedia on William Alexander von Mueffling
Q4 '25 13F filed with SEC

Holdings in Q4 2025

Current Investment Strategy

William von Mueffling's Cantillon Capital Management maintained its $18.5 billion concentrated, long-only portfolio of high-quality compounders in Q4 2025, with technology and financial infrastructure names — led by Broadcom, Alphabet, Interactive Brokers, S&P Global, and Taiwan Semiconductor — dominating the top of the book, while the firm added to positions in Adobe, Formula One Group, and Tradeweb. The fund opened a new stake in wealth management platform LPL Financial and exited animal health giant Zoetis and water-treatment leader Ecolab, reflecting a continued rotation away from defensive industrials and toward capital-markets and data-driven businesses with durable competitive advantages and strong free cash flow generation.

New Investments

LPL Financial LPLA

William Alexander von Mueffling bought $131.82M of LPL Financial in Q4 2025. LPL Financial delivered strong Q4 2025 results with adjusted EPS of $5.23 exceeding consensus estimates by 6.8%, marking a robust recovery from Q3's acquisition-related losses and demonstrating successful integration of the Commonwealth acquisition. The company achieved record $2.4 trillion in AUM, representing 44% year-over-year growth, while revenue of $4.93 billion grew 40% YoY driven by a strategic shift toward higher-margin advisory business, which now represents 58.8% of total assets versus 55.0% in the prior year quarter. While Q4 organic net new assets of $23 billion decelerated to a 4% annualized growth rate from 6.8% in Q3, full-year organic growth of $147 billion achieved an 8% growth rate, and the company improved its leverage ratio to a healthier 1.95x, positioning it favorably despite modest near-term headwinds.

• Full-year 2025 adjusted EPS of $20.09 grew 22% year-over-year with 38% adjusted pre-tax margin.
• Advisory fees surged 59% YoY to $2.54 billion while gross profit expanded 26% and adjusted EBITDA increased 32%.
• Recruited assets totaled $104 billion for the full year despite Q4 moderation to $14 billion post-Commonwealth closing.

Added, Trimmed, and Exited

Added

Cantillon meaningfully increased its stake in Tradeweb (TW) by roughly 753,900 shares (a ~39% increase in share count), making it the largest add of the quarter, followed by a substantial build in Liberty Media (FWONK) (+540,760 shares, ~46% increase) and Tencent Music (TME) (+256,286 shares). Notable additions were also made to Adobe (ADBE) (+156,929 shares), Interactive Brokers Group (IBKR) (+95,878 shares), Fastenal (FAST), Trip.com (TCOM), Uber (UBER), CBRE (CBRE), Alphabet (GOOGL), Applied Materials (AMAT), Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), and several others with smaller top-ups.
What it means: The heavy additions to Tradeweb and Interactive Brokers Group alongside existing large positions suggest William von Mueffling is doubling down on financial market infrastructure — platforms that benefit from rising trading volumes and the electronification of markets regardless of market direction. The aggressive build in Liberty Media (FWONK) signals strong conviction in Formula 1's monetization trajectory, while broad-based topping up across nearly every holding reflects a manager who remains confident in his existing portfolio thesis rather than rotating into new ideas.

Trimmed

The only trim during Q4 was a modest reduction in Broadcom (AVGO), where Cantillon sold approximately 95,438 shares (~2% of the position), though it remains the fund's largest holding at roughly $1.59 billion.
What it means: This appears to be disciplined portfolio management rather than a change in conviction — with Broadcom appreciating and remaining an outsized position, the small trim likely reflects rebalancing to manage concentration risk while maintaining strong exposure to the AI semiconductor infrastructure buildout.

Exited

Cantillon fully liquidated its position in Zoetis (ZTS), which had been valued at approximately $176.4 million, as well as a smaller position in Ecolab (ECL) worth roughly $21.5 million.
What it means: The exit from Zoetis — a longtime quality compounder in animal health — is the most notable move of the quarter, suggesting von Mueffling may see limited upside relative to alternatives after the stock's valuation stretched against a backdrop of slowing companion animal spending. The proceeds appear to have partially funded the new position in LPL Financial (LPLA), effectively swapping a defensive healthcare name for a higher-growth financial services platform — a shift that tilts the portfolio further toward capital markets and financial infrastructure themes.

Disclaimer: All posts are for informational purposes only. They are NOT a recommendation to buy or sell the securities discussed. Please do your own research and due diligence before investing your money.