HHV, King Pyrrhus and WAM
Outsider has long known that victors get to write history but what about a pyrrhic victory?
Money Management provided reasonably detailed coverage of the recent battle for control of the Hunter Hall Global Value Fund (HHV) and when the outcome of the general meeting called by major shareholder Wilson Asset Management (WAM) was known, this august publication published the result.
The result was that, essentially, WAM’s efforts to replace the existing board with its own nominees failed which, at first blush, looked like a comprehensive win for the directors of HHV. The problem, of course, was that the general meeting also voted to remove HHV’s independent chairman, Paul Jensen – something that could be interpreted as a defeat for HHV.
Money Management consequently found itself in a spin doctor’s tug-of-war in which HHV was emphasising the defeat of the WAM move while WAM was emphasising the removal of Jensen.
With the messenger (Money Management) having been shot by both teams of spin doctors, Outsider is declaring it a pyrrhic victory all round.
For those unfamiliar with the classics, a pyrrhic victory is a battlefield triumph that comes at so great a cost that it proves to be more ruinous for the victor than the vanquished. It derives from King Pyrrhus of Epirus’ victory over the Romans in 279 BC at the battle of Asculum in Apulia. So there!
AUTHOR
The Outsider
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