Robert Day, the American asset manager sitting on the board of stricken French bank Societe Generale, didn’t get to where he is today without good market timing.
Yes, earlier this month he trousered €95m selling SocGen stock – the bulk disposed of at €95.27 per share on January 9, with smaller sales over the next two days. By this Monday, shares in SocGen were trading at €70, down 4.6 per cent on the day.
Much cannier, however, looks Day’s move to sell 70 per cent of the money manager he founded in 1971, Trust Company of the West, to SocGen in 2001 for a cool $2.5bn.
According to Forbes, which ranks him as No 754 in its 2007 Rich List (down from 562 a year earlier), Day is a “low-profile philanthropist.” He serves as chairman of $1bn W.M. Keck Foundation, which offers grants in engineering, science, liberal arts.
Forbes also categorises Day’s fortune as being inherited, though that probably has something to do with the fact that he is the grandson of William Keck, the founder of Superior Oil, which is in waste services, chemicals and fiberglass.
Oh, and he’s also reportedly acted as an active fundraiser for President Bush.
On Monday, according to Dow Jones, the French market regular AMF said SocGen had told it that Mr Day had “no prior knowledge or any other information” regarding the antics of alleged rogue trader Jerome Kerviel .
As clueless as the rest of SocGen’s board, clearly.