Peacock's Parting Shot

One of the market's most influential fund managers, Merv Peacock, has issued a call to arms for local investors to unite to insist companies act in the interest of all shareholders, writes associate editor Michael Pascoe. On video, the outgoing chief investment officer at AMP says improved corporate governance is one of the biggest advances he witnessed in his four decades as an institutional investor.

By Michael Pascoe ·
28 Nov 2005

PORTFOLIO POINT: Leading institutional investor Merv Peacock says retail investors could gain even more clout if they joined organisations such as the Australian Shareholders Association and prompted retail and institutional campaigns against poorly performing stocks.

Shareholders, big and small, should make a greater effort to co-ordinate their voting and exercise their power, according to one of Australia’s biggest funds managers.

Merv Peacock retires as chief investment officer for AMP Capital Investors this Wednesday, but not before firing some parting shots and sharing his investment lessons with Eureka Report in today’s video interview, and in a longer audio interview and transcript for our next edition.

Peacock is departing his job of managing about $80 billion while still on top of his game (unlike the Wallabies’ coach and captain) with AMP funds performing strongly across the board. His corporate memory stretches over 42 years ' the good times and the bad for both the markets and AMP.

In our exclusive interview, Peacock rates the reform of corporate governance the biggest improvement he’s seen for investors in his time, although he warns that good governance doesn’t guarantee good performance.

His biggest regret was not waking up to Christopher Skase sooner; a disaster that might have been avoided under present corporate governance requirements.

He believes big institutional investors have become less involved in direct shareholder activism, something he would like to see improved by investors co-ordinating their power.

And what does a man accustomed to managing $80 billion of other people’s money do with his own savings? What is his reading of the two big infrastructure IPOs presently under way? You’ll have to wait for the full 30-minute audio interview to be published later this week to find out.

For the record, Peacock remains strongly bullish about Australian equities and recommends remaining overweight that sector, just like AMP.