26-May-2021: https://www.ausbiz.com.au/media/wam-declares-war-wilson-asset-managements-lic-number-eight?videoId=10580
WAM declares WAR; Wilson Asset Management's LIC Number Eight:
"Jesse Hamilton WAM CFO introduces Scutty and Annette to a market full of mispricing opportunity: securities trading at discount to assets or net tangibles, corporate transactions, dividend yield arbitrage with franking benefits - its all out WAR."
Jesse Hamilton on why they've gone with the WAR ticker code, and how they plan to see gaps between SPs and NTAs close with the CEFs (Closed End Funds: LICs and LITs) that they invest in.
Click on the blue link above to view the interview with Jessie on Ausbiz.
https://wilsonassetmanagement.com.au/2021/04/12/wam-readies-new-strategic-value-strategy-raising/
https://www.afr.com/street-talk/wam-readies-new-strategic-value-strategy-raising-20210411-p57i7b
From that AFR article on 11-April-2021:
Geoff Wilson’s expecting another baby.
The hall of fame stockpicker and father of seven listed investment companies under the Wilson Asset Management (WAM) banner is understood to have an eighth in the works.
Lucky No.8 will be called “WAM Strategic Value” and is expected to list on the ASX via an initial public offering this side of June 30.
Wilson’s team set up the holding company, WAM Strategic Value Limited, as an Australian pubilc company last week in a sure sign there’s a new LIC brewing.
Stockbrokers are also lining up for roles selling the deal; Wilson usually taps Hamish Nairn at Taylor Collison and Morgans, and he is not one to change a successful formula without the need to.
Wilson declined to comment on Sunday.
The big question is what will WAM Strategic Value target? Wilson already has Australian large caps, small caps and microcaps covered, as well as global equities, a relatively new alternatives strategy and an active fund that trades like a small hedge fund. Any new vehicle’s unlikely to overlap with the existing strategies.
If the Wilson watchers are to be believed, “strategic value” will be about trying to buy $1 worth of assets for 80¢. That’s one of Wilson’s favourite catchcries.
And if history is any guide, it could be about buying stakes in listed investment companies. There’s dozens of LICs on the ASX boards trading at steep discounts. The worst (or best, for an activist investor) definitely fit into the $1 of assets for only 80¢ category.
Wilson’s funds already have stakes in a bunch of LICs. WAM Capital, the biggest vehicle in the family, owned shares in at least a dozen LICs at June 30 last year. Its holdings included Charles Goode’s Australian United Investment Company, Euroz’s Westoz Investment Company, Sydney’s Spheria Emerging Companies and NAOS Small Companies, and Templeton Global Growth Company.
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Also: Keybridge Capital (KBC) and Pengana International Equities (PIA) are both held within WAA and WAM, with PIA being a top 20 holding in both funds and KBC being a top 20 holding in WAA.
I'm still working through this - in terms of whether it would be a good move to get involved with the IPO of WAM Strategic Assets or wait and see where they settle in terms of an NTA discount or premium. I'm leaning towards waiting.
Further Reading:
From that AFR article on 03-May-2021:
Geoff Wilson’s Wilson Asset Management is readying for WAR.
That’s the ticker for its new listed investment company, which is slated to spring to life with a $225 million initial public offering due to kick off as early as this week.
It is understood WAM’s team has spent the past week or two marketing WAR, or WAM Strategic Value, to existing clients and financial planning groups, to make sure the cash rolls in when the offer opens later this month.
The $225 million deal was slated to be priced at $1.25 a share, according to a presentation given to potential investors, while the first $125 million would be reserved for existing WAM investors (dubbed the Wilson Asset Management Family).
Firm founder Wilson will personally manage the WAR portfolio and target anything trading at a discount to its underlying asset values. His primary focus will be on other listed investment company and listed investment trusts, the presentation said.
Of course WAM’s no stranger to LIC and LITs. The firm already has 18 positions worth $147.7 million and trading at an average 14.3 per cent discount to their asset backing, the presentation said. It would make sense if some or all of those ended up inside WAR, given its strategic objectives.
Those positions include shares in the likes of high-profile LICs run by L1 Capital and VGI Partners, where WAM is already a shareholder, as well as smaller offerings from the likes of Naos Asset Management, Antipodes Partners, Spheria Asset Management and Thorney.
It will be interesting to see how those managers take having WAR on their register. Closing discounts is generally seen in everyone’s best interest, but it can also put existing managers’ jobs on the line.
Taylor Collison and Morgans are named as joint lead managers to WAR’s IPO.
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Further Reading: