By James Thomson
It was shortly after the crash in 1987 that Geoff Wilson first came to embrace the philosophy of legendary investor Sir John Templeton.
Wilson was in the US on a business trip when he started regularly seeing Templeton quoted saying that instead of shunning equity markets, this was the time to put 10 per cent of your income into stocks.
“To me it was just such a logical argument, when pretty much everything in Australia was saying run to the hills,” Wilson recalled on Tuesday.
So the chairman of the Wilson Asset Management listed investment company (LIC) empire says he is a touch sad to see that Templeton name disappear from the ASX boards, 34 years after it first arrived in the tumult of 1987.
But not too sad, given he’s effectively taking out the Templeton Global Growth Fund in a deal that will see it merge with Wilson’s WAM Global LIC.