Perpetual’s head of Australian equities, Vince Pezzullo, has publicly defended AustralianSuper’s defiance of Origin’s takeover bid, describing some comments by the bidding consortium as “disgraceful”. Pezzullo, HESTA’s Jeff Brunton and ACSI’s Ed John agreed there are merits to conducting transparent and public active ownership campaigns, but more often than not, it pays to engage in private.