Perpetual to pay $5m in litigation costs
Perpetual Investment Management (PIML) will need to pay $5 million to cover Brickworks and Washington H. Soul Pattinson (WHSP) litigation costs, as a result of a decision made by the Federal Court of Australia last month which dismissed the firm’s claim that Brickworks had engaged in oppressive conduct including a cross-shareholding structure with WHSP.
Additionally, PIML said it decided not to appeal against the judgement.
According to the PIML board’s statement, announced to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), the company’s legal costs were progressively recharged to relevant funds and the amount charged to the date of judgement was $6 million with no further costs to follow.
The combined funds under management in the impacted funds were just over $8 billion.
Also, the Perpetual costs would impact its net profit after tax (NPAT) in FY18, as a one off non-recurring item and would be expected to stand at $3.5 million.
Perpetual’s chief executive and managing director, Geoff Lloyd, said: “At every step we acted in the best interest of our unitholders, and this continues with our board’s decision to align client interests and Perpetual interests by sharing the costs of litigation and absorbing all of the Brickworks and Soul Pattinson costs.”
Recommended for you
There is one specific risk that is a significantly higher concern for financial services directors compared to companies overall and is impacting their risk appetite, according to the AICD.
Global fund managers are shunning bonds, with the asset class seeing the largest drop in allocations in more than 20 years.
Australian Ethical has seen its funds under management reach $10 billion, driven by organic customer growth and superannuation contributions.
Financial advisers will have access to private equity investments run by WTW for the first time as it launches a pooled fund to provide savers with access to traditionally institutional assets.
