Monthly Performance to Date, page-4

Here, is the article to read but basically article is making a good point at the end "the best way to invest in funds like WAM which treasury can't touch with new capital gain tax "

Did you notice biggest good news in the article below? It says "Oberg was always going to be closely followed. So it was strange when some in the market heard whispers he’d taken extended leave.".... hope he leaves and have good life with Regal

Wilson Desperately need another fund manager to manage WAM and get it back on track before it is too late !

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Geoff Wilson contends with absence and self-interest

(Mark Di Stefano, AFR)

The veteran behind Wilson Asset Management has a liberal approach to flexible work.

In the Geoff Wilson listed-investment universe, there’s Geoff.

His Wilson Asset Management has lead portfolio managers Matthew Haupt (who runs three of its most important listed portfolios) and Catriona Burns (she runs one and is the deputy CEO).

Then there’s Oscar Oberg, who runs five of them alongside Tobias Yao. The pair have charge of WAM Capital, WAM Active, WAM Research, WAM Microcap and the company’s founders fund.

With so much to keep across, Oberg was always going to be closely followed. So it was strange when some in the market heard whispers he’d taken extended leave.

Next year, Oberg brings up 10 years at WAM.

Perhaps he’s cashing in some long-service leave early? Still, it’s one of those things that surely requires a pro-forma disclosure to the ASX.

“Oberg is taking a well-earned break. In the interim, Joe Bloggs will work with Tobias to ensure the smooth operation of his five funds,” signed, Geoff and Catriona.

It’s worse than that: Oberg has taken four months off to travel around Australia with his family. And no one thought it was necessary to tell shareholders. Reached at the end of last week, Wilson initially described it as a “holiday”. But asked why it hadn’t been disclosed, he suggested rather coyly that “Oscar is still working”.

He described it as “working from the road”. What a set-up for Oscar! Wilson’s work-from-home policy is so liberal that one of his top managers has his Akubra on, hunched over a dust-covered HP laptop perched on the bonnet of a Land Cruiser.

He’s scanning his five stock portfolios while the Starlink dips in and out. Maybe he’s convinced the kids of all the fun that can be had doing due diligence on a mine site.

It does sound a bit silly. Investors and shareholders want to know what their fund managers are up to because it’s an all-consuming job. Portfolio managers live and breathe every stock position.

But they do deserve a break. Poor Oscar has Geoff saying he’s working, when he should be switching off the phone and enjoying time with his family.

Dynasty peaked

The same can be said for Wilson. He’s officially “retired” but his day-to-day activity is not totally about annoying Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Wilson loathes Chalmers’ proposal to tax the unrealised gains for super accounts with more than $3 million.

The social media convert has posted about it so many times on X and LinkedIn that we lost count (no joke, at 150 in the last two months). He’s also pushing a petition for angry punters to sign. The fact it is hosted on Wilson Asset Management’s website (with signatories compulsorily signed up to receive marketing material), suggests it’s less advocacy and more a barely disguised customer-acquisition funnel.

His aggressive campaigning on this, and the successful smashing of Labor’s franked credit reforms of 2019, have always been known to be about speaking up for his core customer base.

That is, the downtrodden cashed-up Boomers.

That’s fine. But unremarked in Wilson’s many, many appearances in the media is how much personal conflict he has on this one.

Wilson has two self-managed super funds that show up in his director disclosures across multiple companies. One’s called Corporate Holdings (previously called the Avoca Super Fund) and the other is Dynasty Peak (which isn’t named after some 70s porno, he insisted to us, but a portmanteau of the era’s top TV shows).

Both SMSFs are stuffed with WAM-associated stock – like 13,324,208 shares in the WAM Leader fund, which today is valued at $16.65 million. They also have some miscellaneous shares – like $1 million of stock in Maggie Beer’s food group. All up, Wilson’s SMSFs (along with some associated trusts) own around $40 million in equity assets.

No wonder he’s hopping mad about the super changes!

Labor’s proposal aims to tax the unrealised appreciation of assets in super accounts. The funny thing is all of Wilson’s holdings haven’t increased in value over the last few years (they are geared towards dividend payouts).

He probably wouldn’t put it this way, but it turns out the best way to avoid the evil new tax is to invest like Wilson. Chalmers won’t touch assets that don’t go up.