Geoff Wilson maximises ambiguity
Wilson holds the underperformers to account. It's only reasonable, then, that his own performance is scrutinised, but for that we'd need real numbers.
When it lists on the Australian Securities Exchange on April 30, Wilson Asset Management's ninth (!) listed investment company, WAM Income Maximiser, will be just the second $500 million-plus float of the last 12 months, after only David Di Pilla's DigiCo REIT.[[WAM Income Maximiser (ASX: WMX) is raising $510 million, compared to DigiCo’s $2 billion in December and the $334 million raised by Guzman y Gomez in June.]]
By now, retail funds management king Geoff Wilson can run an IPO in his sleep. He's got no fewer than eight joint lead managers on the deal, so in these lean times, he's paying the private school fees of every broker in Sydney's golden rectangle.
Wilson is a legend of the Australian market and a larrikin, and there's something to be said for that. But the world of retail funds remains fast and loose, treating its unsophisticated investor base like the fools they mostly are. The prospectus for Wilson's new LIC does nothing to improve on those standards.
In the WAM Income Maximiser prospectus, two of Wilson's eight existing LICs – being WAM Leaders and WAM Capital – are selected as fair comparators given the absence of its own investment record.[[WAM Income Maximiser will run a split portfolio of equities and bonds – a whole new genre in Wilson’s suite of funds.]] WAM Income Maximiser, it says, "considers the performance of WAM Leaders and WAM Capital to be relevant to the offer".