Hall willing to accept WHL off-market takeover
Following the surprise decision by Peter Hall to resign as chief investment officer of Hunter Hall Investment Management Limited (HHL), Hall has sold 19.9 per cent of his 43.95 per cent stake in the business to Washington H Soul Pattison (WHL).
According to Australian Unity Personal Financial Services (PFS), WHL has launched an off-market takeover offer for the remaining ordinary shares in HHL and Hall said he is willing to accept WHL's proposal for his remaining 24.05 per cent holding, subject to no superior proposal being put forward.
Hall's $1 sale price represented a material discount (67.7 per cent) to the prevailing price of HHL shares at the time of the announcement.
Australian Unity said Hall's departure was a material loss to the firm and the investment and that Lonsec's redeem rating resulted in PFS undertaking its own review.
"We are particularly disappointed by the recent actions of Peter Hall, though we understand they were motivated by personal issues. Notwithstanding we have concluded that in the best interest of our clients, the prudent course of action is a full redemption from or sale of all Hunter investment vehicles as soon as practically possible," Australian Unity said.
"Although unfortunate, we believe that as a manager with a high profile ethical credential, selling shares at such a deep discount to market is not in the best interest of other shareholders in the company."
Australian Unity noted that as WHL did not have the same ethical investment ethos, they had a clear preference for other managers employing ethical screens in the fund universe.
"As a result of recent announcements and the Lonsec ‘redeem' rating, we expect a large amount of redemptions which could increase the prospect of the funds becoming illiquid. This is a risk, given the funds' underlying exposures to small cap holdings," Australian Unity said.
"For these reasons, redeeming investments in the funds as soon as possible is the preferred course of action."
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