The 2024–25 financial year saw an array of noteworthy announcements from some of the largest fund management firms, including Perpetual, Janus Henderson, BlackRock, and BT.
July
Kicking off FY25, Maple-Brown Abbott announced it would be acquired by Antipodes Partners to create a firm with $18.6 billion in assets under management. Antipodes is an affiliate of Pinnacle Investment Management. Earlier in the year, former Maple-Brown Abbott chief executive, Sophia Rahmani, had left the firm to join Magellan.
August
With two appointments in August, Perpetual announced its new chief executive would be Bernard Reilly, having previously flagged in May that Rob Adams would be retiring following the completion of its strategic review. Reilly was formerly the chief executive of superannuation fund Australian Retirement Trust.
Meanwhile, JP Morgan Asset Management named Travis Spence as its global head of ETFs. In the role, he would lead the ETF product development, capital markets, and newly formed ETF insights team.
September
In September, fund manager Australian Ethical announced it had completed the acquisition of fixed income manager Altius Asset Management from Australian Unity, bringing funds under management to $12.3 billion.
Also in September, Global X ETFs announced it had appointed Alex Zaika as its new chief executive to replace Evan Metcalf. Zaika was previously managing director at GAM Investments for six years and previously spent three years at BlackRock.
October
In October, MFF Capital Investments announced it would be acquiring asset manager Montaka Global Investments, which has $260 million in assets under management and offices in New York and Sydney.
November
Alternative asset manager HMC Capital has set an ambitious growth target of 42 per cent per annum over the next three years to reach $50 billion in assets under management.
December
Closing out the calendar year, BlackRock announced it would be acquiring global credit investment manager HPS Investment Partners in a deal valued at US$12 billion. This was the third deal in this space, following the acquisition of Preqin in July and, more recently, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) in October.
January
Kicking off 2025, Magellan announced a raft of management changes in January, including the departure of head of investments Gerald Stack after 18 years with the firm, stating this would help the business to deliver its strategic growth ambitions.
February
After months of negotiation, Perpetual announced in February it would be scrapping its deal with KKR after the Australian Taxation Office ascertained the firm’s tax liability could be as high as $488 million if the deal were to proceed, leading to an independent expert ruling the deal would not be in the best interest of shareholders.
Macquarie Asset Management announced it will launch two fixed income ETFs, one focused on global high yield and one focused on subordinated debt. This was followed by Schroders which also announced the launch of two active ETFs investing in global equities and in corporate and financial credit.
March
Moving on in the year, Platinum Asset Management’s outflows jumped from $160 million to $358 million in March after its co-chief investment officers Andrew Clifford and Clay Smolinski announced they would be stepping down.
April
Heading into Q4 of the financial year, Reach Alternative Investments entered into a strategic partnership with Russell Investments. Reach Alts explained this would strengthen the firm’s existing suite of wholesale funds. In addition to this, the two companies also teamed up to launch the Reach Global Private Infrastructure Fund.
Also in April, Janus Henderson signed a strategic partnership with life insurer Guardian Life, committing up to US$400 million to accelerate the firm’s continued innovation in securitised credit, high-quality active fixed income products and other leading fixed income capabilities, such as active fixed income ETFs.
May
US alternative credit manager Apollo Global Management launched a fund in May for Australian wholesale investors with Channel Capital, signalling Australia as a “priority market”. Focusing on directly originated, investment-grade assets, Apollo’s strategy aimed to deliver consistent income through exposure to high-quality assets and contracted cash flows.
June
Rounding out the 2024–25 financial year, BT teamed up with global fund manager Wellington Management in June to launch the Global Opportunistic Value Fund. The global equities contrarian value fund was developed in response to feedback from asset consultants and advisers calling for more investment options to solve portfolio construction challenges.
