Hall of fame fund manager Geoff Wilson has raised $154 million for his firm’s fifth listed investment company.
The stockpicker’s Wilson Asset Management closed the books on its WAM Microcap Ltd initial public offering on Wednesday night, and was preparing to scale back investors after receiving more than $154 million of bids for new shares.
WAM Microcap set out to raise no more than $154 million – in an effort to stay small enough to trade in and out of often illiquid microcap stocks.
The firm already has small and large cap funds.
The raising will see WAM’s team, headed by Wilson and chief investment officer Chris Stott, hunting the microcaps sector for ideas over the coming fortnight before the fund hits the ASX boards on June 28.
It’s the fifth listed fund in WAM’s stable, joining its WAM Capital, WAM Research, WAM Active and WAM Leaders listed investment companies.
The firm manages more than $2 billion across the funds.
Interestingly, WAM bucked the trend to offer a free option with shares for the new WAM Microcap fund in an effort to keep the fund small.
Stockbrokers Taylor Collison and Morgans managed the offer.
The shares will list at $1.10 each.