Friday 29th of February 2008

With all the goings-on at Fisher Funds the company is finding that when you reach the heights of being the market darling, it can be a long fall back down to earth. While many of the company’s funds are taking a battering at the hands of the sharemarket, the company is causing its own waves with internal changes. Firstly on the market front, the risks of taking large, concentrated bets on small and mid-sized companies is becoming clear. When a call goes wrong, like Barramundi's investment in ASX-listed Credit Corp then the damage is painful. While investors in this fund must be wondering what to do, so must those holding Kingfish warrants. The last exercise date for the warrants issued with the IPO is looming, and what looked like a handy investment is looking far less attractive now the market (and the fund) have fallen. Then we move to the messy departure of former chief investment officer Warren Couillault. I have a couple of observations here. One, and no doubt this will annoy some, is that every time I have seen Couillault and Carmel Fisher together over the years they never appeared to be close. There is no questioning their professional skills, rather this is an observation about how they worked as a team. Something was missing. Secondly, there is a story circulating that last year Couillault wanted to float the funds management company rather than doing the Marlin global share fund. He may have lost that debate (if ever it was held), but by selling his 27% stake to Fisher I guess he has achieved his exit. Finally, I struggle to believe the company line there was no rift between Fisher and Couillault. Messy splits like this can't be called an amicable divorce.