It was announced in mid-January that the trust had secured commitments of $171 million and was targeted for a launch of 5 March with an overall raise of $300 million.
MA Financial has now announced that it has successfully raised $330 million and has therefore closed the fundraising early due to oversubscribed demand.
The fund will provide diversified access to a number of MA Financial’s private credit investment funds in a listed trust and seeks to target a risk-adjusted return of RBA cash rate plus 4.25 per cent per annum over a rolling 12-month period, net of management fees and costs.
This includes exposure to a $3.7+ billion underlying portfolio of 165 private credit investments, diversified across lending strategies in which MA Financial has a proven track record and specialist capabilities: direct asset lending, asset backed lending, and direct corporate lending.
Frank Danieli, managing director and head of credit investments and lending, said: “In developing this fund in consultation with our key investors and industry stakeholders, we’ve prioritised two key aspects critical to them, being transparency and liquidity. These are fundamental to the investment proposition.
“The fund introduces asset-backed lending as what we suggest is a critical component of the investment mix, providing a missing piece for Australian investors, and also what we believe to be the next frontier of private credit globally.”
Alternative asset manager MA Financial runs a variety of funds, primarily for wholesale investors, across private credit, real estate, private equity, venture capital and equities.
Earlier this month, US private credit manager Monroe Capital announced it would be opening an office in Australia to take advantage of the growing demand as it said it had seen “increased interest” from Australian investors. It also appointed Galen Fu as director for business development, responsible for client servicing and capital raising across Australia.
Zia Uddin, president of Monroe Capital, said: “We have several longstanding limited partners in Australia, and we look forward to our continued strategic growth and expansion in Australia. In recent years, Australian investors have shown increased interest and appreciation for the Monroe platform and the private credit asset class. We have a tremendous opportunity to expand our footprint in this significant market.”
