Last week, Peter Hall, the chief investment officer of Hunter Hall International
(ASX:HHL) announced his resignation from the company, without giving detailed reasons as to why. Mr Hall also sold his 19.9% stake in Hunter Hall to Washington H. Soul Pattinson for $1 per share, which is less than a third of their face value.
Mr Hall has now revealed that he left the company for a number of reasons. One of them being, the fact that he called the market wrong ahead of the US election – with the market surging 10% after Donald Trump’s surprise victory, whereas Hunter Hall’s investments fell 7%.
Mr Hall says he's confident he could recoup those losses, but also says it would take a lot of time, which he did not wish to commit. By way of comparison, he said it took five years to recoup losses resulting from the Global Financial Crisis. Therefore, he thought, “December would be a very good time to exit."
Peter Hall also says his decision to quit was triggered by a board decision years ago, which he opposed, resulting in fund manager, Wilson Asset Management, and associated investment funds now controlling 10 per cent of the Hunter Hall fund’s capital.
Hunter Hall posted a net profit of $19.1 million at 30 June 2016.
