Jeremy Raper

Aircraft leasing is a large asset pool with only a few public-market vehicles; despite superior long-term track records and high returns on tangible assets, these companies can trade at steep discounts to intrinsic/book value because the market misunderstands the sector or penalizes size/cost of capital. It is fundamentally a cost-of-capital game, so larger, better-funded balance sheets with lower funding costs have a structural advantage.

Jeremy owns 5.7% of HUM Group, has a concert party stake around 9%, and is calling a Feb 19 EGM to remove three of four directors, including the chairman, and add himself and another nominee. He argues HUM is a good company with a strong commercial asset-backed finance segment, but poor board governance under a quasi-controlling chairman has led to a lowball 58c buyout attempt against ~76-77c tangible assets, no standstill, governance failures, and no guarantee against a future undervalued offer. Board renewal could unlock value through better governance, excess cash return, a proper dividend policy, strategic review, and examination of misconduct; a third-party 77c bid is also in the background.