Stock research firm Fat Prophets is aiming to launch a boutique listed investment company (LIC) in a move that would push the group into the realm of buying and selling shares for the first time.
The stock tipping company founded in June 2000 by former BT Financial Group staffers Angus Geddes and Jason McIntosh is yet to release any specific details about the proposal, having yet to issue the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) with a prospectus for the initiative.
However the group has a board meeting scheduled this afternoon at which final sign-off for the LIC, to be called Fat Prophets Australia, is expected to take place. A copy of the prospectus for the new venture will then be sent to ASIC.
The launch would be the second LIC to hit the market in little over a week, following the decision by boutique investment group Ausbil Dexia’s to allow retail investors direct access to its wholesale Emerging Leaders Fund via a $100 million LIC.
The launch of both LICs comes after a lull in the market’s appetite for such vehicles in the second half of last year.
Fat Prophets declined to comment on the proposal when contacted by Money Management ahead of its lodgement with ASIC, however the group has flagged it will make a public announcement tomorrow afternoon in Sydney.
Fat Prophets makes recommendations on Australian and New Zealand stocks to its collective of paying subscribers. In 2003 it also launched Fat Prophets Mining and extended its operations into Britain with the launch of Fat Prophets United Kingdom.
