Funds under management (FUM) in Australian equities fell by a quarter in April, from $6 billion to $4.5 billion.
This followed a drop of a third in March, when they fell from $9 billion to $6 billion after the departure of Airlie Funds Management founder John Sevior.
Magellan’s Australian equity products included the Airlie Australian Share, Airlie Small Companies and the wholesale Airlie Concentrated Share fund.
In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), the firm said total FUM had declined from $43.2 billion at the end of March to $42.7 billion.
The majority of the outflows came from the fund’s institutional channel, which dropped from $24.5 billion to $23.5 billion. However, the retail channel saw upward growth, with FUM rising from $18.7 billion to $19.2 billion.
“In April, Magellan experienced net outflows of $2.4 billion, which included net retail outflows of $0.4 billion and net institutional outflows of $2.0 billion.”
While Australian equities declined, global equities and infrastructure equities both saw increases in their FUM.
Global equities, which included the flagship Magellan Global fund, grew 0.9 per cent from $20.7 billion to $20.9 billion.
Infrastructure equities rose 4.8 per cent from $16.5 billion to $17.3 billion.
Although the asset manager had seen a dramatic downturn in FUM over recent months, chief executive David George, who took over from Brett Cairns, stated that he hopes to rebuild the asset manager to $100 billion in FUM.
This would be achieved by improving the performance of the flagship Magellan Global fund as well as through acquisitions.
“As time moves forward and we are again delivering client outcomes through performance, we will look toward areas like private markets as allocation to this segment is growing in our clients’ portfolios.
“Where we can and where it makes sense, we will grow alongside their needs. We will be disciplined in our approach to this. Any investment or acquisition we make in time will be strategic and scalable, fit alongside our existing funds management business, and deliver synergies in order to drive shareholder value,” George said.
