Peter Hall might be focused on different kind of wilderness after Hunter Hall exit

Peter Hall's messy departure from Hunter Hall – the ethical fund he founded – is now complete.

He cashed in his final stake for $17 million last week.

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But what now? Hall has hinted at a return to stockpicking without all the administrative headaches that come with the CEO title.

But who knows, maybe the time away from the investment spotlight will lead him back to his higher calling.

Many years ago, not long after the financial crisis, Hall revealed what he hopes to be his ultimate legacy.

"I see the purpose in my life to try and return the world to balance," Hall told the Financial Standard . "If I can have played a part in saving whales from extinction, rhinos from extinction, dugongs from extinction, all these beautiful animals and plants from extinction, that would be a fantastic legacy.

"I would like to see at least half the world covered in wilderness where animals can live out their lives and the whole process of evolution can carry on," Hall said.

Money did not figure in the musings of the man who went to the same school as the actor Daniel Day Lewis, musicians Lily Allen and Joe Strummer of The Clash.

"Money isn't what it's all about – it's all about having an impact and solving some of the problems."

It's the sort of attitude that might help salve the financial wounds of Hunter Hall investors who were on the wrong side of the Donald Trump share boom when Hall bet on a downturn.

Spotty

Spotless shares hit another all time low of 72¢ on Friday and it could get much worse if Deutsche Bank analysts are on the money with their price target of 63¢.

Then again, what were people expecting when they paid $1.60 a share in the 2014 IPO? It valued the company at $1.9 billion less than two years after Pacific Equity Partners had taken it private for $723 million.

"What has happened in two years, not even that, for private equity to turn it around, to now be offering just on $1 billion for just over half?" IG Markets strategist Evan Lucas told Reuters at the time.

Its market cap is now not much more than what PEP paid in 2012. If Deutsche is right, it is actually worth a fair bit less which means the investors who coughed up $1 billion for PEP's shares were sold one hell of a pup.

This includes the chairman that PEP wheeled out for the big IPO: Margaret Jackson.

She picked up 1.74 million shares in the float at $1.60 each, plus another 139,130 for free as an "IPO bonus".

PEP did not miss out on IPO bonuses either, it received $24.6 million for services provided to the share offer which crystallised the fortune it made with Spotless.

Former pollie, Nick Sherry, also picked up $120,000 worth of shares for his board duties leading up to the float. Just last week he saw fit to dive in and pick up 37,125 shares at 80¢ each – the first shares he has acquired since the IPO.

As for PEP, it sold its final 100 million Spotless shares in August 2015 at around $2 a share. In December came that disastrous profit downgrade from which Spotless has never really recovered.

Take two

And with modest fanfare the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has appointed its second chairman in three months.

Its previous chairman – QBE's newly-minted chief operating officer, Colin Fagen – was dispatched from the insurer with immediate effect last month – and zero explanation.

It was obviously not expected given he had been appointed ICA chairman in January.

Anthony Day, the insurance boss at Suncorp, has taken over as the new chair.

We assume Suncorp boss, Michael Cameron, has provided some sort of assurance that Day will be able to see out his term without any unforseen acts curtailing his employment.

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