VGI saga puts spotlight on listed fund manager, LIC debates
LICs may have helped destabilise hedge fund VGI but they've found many supporters on both the manager and investor side of the market.
When VGI Partners was flying high, the feared hedge fund decided to surrender its aura of secrecy by listing its management company and then two separate strategies — one global and one local — in relatively quick succession in 2019.
It seemed like a good idea at the time, supercharging funds under management and giving retail investors access to the sharp stock pickers once exclusively available to the rich and powerful.
But as Capital Brief detailed this week, the fund fell apart as its once tight-knit investment team splintered, with tensions exacerbated by the listing of the fund manager itself as well as its listed strategies.
“I’ve generally advised people over the years not to launch these kinds of permanent capital vehicles on the exchange,” one investment bank director, who was not authorised to speak to the media, told Capital Brief.
