MA Financial Group has announced it has secured commitments of $171 million for its latest MA Credit Income Trust.
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.
Its portfolio includes exposure to a $3.7 billion underlying portfolio of 165 private credit investments, diversified across lending strategies such as direct asset lending, asset backed lending, and direct corporate lending.
The firm expects to list on 5 March and is hopeful of having received a further $130 million by the listing date.
Chris Wyke, MA Financial’s joint CEO said: “The launch of the MA Credit Income Trust marks an important step for MA Financial, as we continue to broaden our offering to clients and build our presence as a leading private credit asset manager.
“At the core of our culture is alignment of interests with our investors. Investors will join MA Financial and our staff who have co-invested over $190 million in all MA Financial private credit funds, including $160 million in the underlying private credit funds from which MA1 obtains its investment exposure”.
Frank Danieli, managing director and head of credit investments and lending, said: “MA Financial’s private credit investment philosophy is based around avoiding losers, not picking winners. This mindset informs our approach to selecting and structuring investments, constructing our portfolios, monitoring positions and managing risk.
“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.”
In the firm’s latest financial results as of 30 September, it said the firm has $9.9 billion in assets under management and $128 billion in managed loans. Total flows (ex institutional) were $924 million for the nine months to 30 September, with consistent growth seen from domestic clients.
However, it noted some larger international investors in the high-net-worth space were seeking liquidity which impacted the growth of net inflows.
