Another Jenny Hutson Failure

HUTSON TO EXIT G8
BRISBANE bizoid Jenny Hutson plans to step down as chair of childcare group G8 in the wake of the company’s failed bid to buy rival operator Affinity Education.
Hutson announced on Thursday that she will leave G8 on October 15 after a five-year stint which has seen the company grow through acquisitions to become Australia’s biggest for-profit childcare operation.
“It’s time to let there be renewal, fresh ideas and a different direction,’’ she told City Beat.
But Hutson, who has always had a thing for red leather jackets, denied that the unsuccessful $185 million tilt for Affinity played any part in her decision to go.

Private equity player Anchorage Capital Partners came in over the top to pay $208 million and she said that the deal allowed G8 to sell its 20 per cent stake at a significant profit.
Hutson now plans to devote her energies fully to her corporate advisory and funds management firm, Wellington Capital, which she said is travelling “tremendously well’’.
But that upbeat assessment doesn’t extend to the company’s Premium Income Fund, which has proved to be an unmitigated disaster for more than 10,000 investors.
The fund, once worth more than $750 million, has lost money every year since Wellington took it over in 2008. The accumulated red ink now exceeds $230 million.
After years of offloading distressed assets, Hutson said the wind down of the fund should be complete in 12 months. “We gave it our all and learned a lot,’’ she said.