FINDING SOLUTIONS
AND UNLOCKING HIDDEN VALUE
Gardner Hillman

DIRECTORSHIPS / CONSULTANCY / SUBSTANCE IN GOVERNANCE

Tony Gardner-Hillman is a strategist for companies facing challenges. He is passionate about ways to add value – uncovering, developing, and making it happen. He offers effective solutions through a directorship or consultancy.

WHAT DOES HE OFFER?

In 2008, with a successful career in law behind him, having sold his founding-shareholder stake in JTC Group, Tony decided to focus on his client company directorship roles and develop that activity as his professional career. From around 2010 he was increasingly introduced by active investors to directorship opportunities with listed investment companies consistently trading at substantial discounts to NAV. Those investors had endured enough of board complacency, absence of strategy, and lack of progress. They wanted their investment values handed back. Tony’s roles included removing investment managers, and then selling under-performing asset portfolios in challenging markets, enabling the overdue return of cash to investors. Along the way that meant negotiating, against resistance, the termination of service provider appointments or the adjustment of fee levels, dealing with third-party disputes, pursuing fraudsters, and overcoming all kinds of tactical challenges aimed at diverting value away from investors. He set out to find ways to “unlock” assets whose disposal at true value was blocked. Often the “blocks” were unhelpful covenants, planning restrictions, inexplicable mining permit revocations, and so on. Other roles followed at the invitation of incumbent directors, who simply wanted to add situation-specific experience to their board.

Tony realised he had an uncommon package of experiences and abilities, coupled with a determination to roll up his sleeves, face up to contentious issues, and deal with “locked” assets. Those traits became his hallmark.

Services