Geoff Wilson's funny farm
Up is down and down is up at Wilson Asset Management.
Days after 2026 financial year close, and weeks before WAM Global shareholders could gawk at its abysmal results, Wilson Asset Management promoted the fund's lead portfolio manager and WAM deputy CEO Catriona Burns to CEO.
It's a lovely story for Burns. She began her career as a bright-eyed intern at WAM before making the seemingly obligatory Aussie pilgrimage to London, where she managed global equities for Hunter Hall (which merged with Pengana Capital in 2017). She came home to join stock picking maestros John Sevior and David Cooper when they founded Airlie Funds Management then returned to where it all started to launch WAM Global in 2018. Managing that fund appears to have been rewarding, given she forked out $20.5 million on an oceanfront trophy home in Tamarama in April.
But around the time her new business cards hit the printers, WAM Global dished up a negative 4.2 per cent return while its MSCI World Index (AUD) benchmark rose 14.8 per cent over the 2026 financial year.
For this, she might have a passable alibi. Frontier Advisors wrote this month that the last financial year was the worst result in more than 25 years for active global equity managers. Only a third of managers beat the market – though one has to wonder how many were 19 percentage points behind the eight ball.
