London Stock Exchange – Hedge funds have every right to criticise bad management in companies they invest in, according to an expert from F&C Partners.
The comments come in response to an “outburst” from Joop Wijn, the Dutch minister for the economy.
In a broadcast interview, Mr Wijn claimed that hedge funds behaved like “locusts” after some funds voiced an opinion that a supermarket group they had invested in should be restructured becauseshareholder value could be increased.
However, Francois Barthelemy, a partner at F&C Partners, said Mr Wijn’s comments were “misguided” because it would be wrong for companies to ignore the demands of large shareholders, whether theyare individual persons or hedge funds.
He explained: “The corporate structure of hedge funds means that they have the freedom to raise their voice in the face of incompetent management teams…”
