It seems appropriate that the first part of our interview with veteran fund manager Geoff Wilson takes place as he weaves through New York City on foot, looking for an Uber.
This year also marks the 10-year anniversary of Wilson’s other great legacy, the Future Generation companies, Australia’s first listed investment companies to provide both investments and social returns. Investors include billionaires Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, Solomon Lew and the Smorgon family. “I wanted my first role to be a pro bono one and this one always attracted me because it’s a great model where people get a great investment product and the money goes to kids, roughly $10 million a year across the two funds,” says Lowe.“Bankers can have a bad name but I was really impressed there were all these people in the financial sector prepared to give their time, their energy and money, to help kids.
It’s clear that Wilson has a head for deals. But he clearly loves people too, and fairly long, circuitous stories. So how did this unique Future Generation charity model come about, we ask? Strap yourself in. “The prospectus aimed to raise $200 million. We thought we would be lucky to raise $20 million. It was open for six weeks. We had about $400 million of demand and we had to knock people back. The Myer family wanted to put money in but we ended up having to knock them back,” Wilson says.Investors asked him to launch a global fund and he said no, given the effort involved. But Wilson says that a year later he was in London and caught up with Forrest’s people again.