HHV board rebuffs Geoff Wilson letter
The board of Hunter Hall Global Value Limited (HHV) has rejected a call by Wilson Asset Management chairman, Geoff Wilson, to conduct an equal access Buy Back of its securities.
The HHV board has issued a statement on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in which it has declared that while WAM is the largest shareholder and has provided valuable support to HHV, the board does not agree with a number of the assertions made in the WAM letter and certain comments made by Wilson.
In doing so, it defended HHV's investment performance since inception, and denied there exists a corporate governance crisis resulting from the resignation of Peter Hall as a director following his resignation as chief investment officer and chief executive officer.
The board also claims that WAM has incorrectly implied that the entry and exit feature of a list investment company (LIC) such as HHV should be the same as a unit trust.
"The HHV share price has traded in an orderly manner since Mr Hall's resignation and the board does not accept Mr Wilson's argument that HHV shareholders should be given the opportunity to exist their investment at NTA as if they are investors in one of Hunter Hall's unit trusts," the ASX announcement said.
"Further the board is conscious of its duty to act in the best interest of the company and all its approximately 8,000 shareholders. Our top 10 shareholders account for approximately 21 per cent of shares on issue (approximately 51 million shares) of which WAM owns approximately 28 million. HHV's tenth largest shareholder owns fewer than one million shares," it said.
The ASX announcement said that the HHV noted hat WAM and its related entities had been selling down their holding in HHV in the December quarter of 2016 and that they began increasing their holding in HHV this year, just prior to making their request for Buy Back.
"While a Buy Back at NTA per share may provide WAM with the liquidity required to exit its very large HHV shareholding, the board believes that currently there is sufficient liquidity in HHV shares at acceptable share prices for HHV shareholders to exit their HHV shareholding on market as and if they wish to do so."
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