iPartners takes majority stake in Melbourne fund manager
Alternative asset manager iPartners Funds Management has announced a new acquisition to support its retail presence with a majority stake in Mi Funds Management.
With the transaction, iPartners will take joint responsibility for the funds management and investor relations under the Mi Funds’ umbrella, targeting $1 billion of funds under management over the next few years.
The deal is expected to boost iPartners’ ability to support its intermediary clients, aligning with its broader private credit capability.
“iPartners has always had the ambition to take the teams’ private credit capabilities to retail investors, and through the equity stake partnership with Mi Funds, iPartners group can accelerate these ambitions in the upcoming months,” explained Travis Miller, managing director and co-founder of iPartners.
He described the acquisition as a “natural extension” of the firm’s longstanding relationship with Mi Funds’ investment directors Ben Meikle and Colin Campbell.
Commenting on the deal, Meikle said it prepares the Melbourne fund manager for the next stage of growth.
“Working with iPartners provides national coverage which allows us to build on the trust and support from our current investor base and the opportunity to reach new clients,” he stated.
Mi Funds’ flagship Market Intelligence Income Fund is a retail private credit fund launched in 2023 with over $8.1 million in assets under management.
Since inception, it has delivered 9.54 per cent against the benchmark RBA official cash rate, plus 4 per cent per annum return of 8.54 per cent.
Meanwhile iPartners, founded in 2017, has seen over $6.5 billion total volume of alternative assets delivered across a number of institutional grade investments in private credit, asset backed debt (ABS), property, private equity and private credit funds.
According to Preqin, assets under management in private debt in Asia-Pacific (APAC) currently stand at almost US$100 billion as of August 2024. It marks a sixfold rise over the past decade, up from US$15.4 in 2014.
AUTHOR
Rhea Nath
Recommended for you
Retailisation of private markets such as evergreen funds may seem like appealing options for wholesale and retail investors, but providers risk undermining trust if their products are unclear.
Ethical investment manager Australian Ethical has seen its funds under management rise by a third over FY25 to close out the year at $13.9 billion.
BlackRock Australia’s head of intermediary distribution James Waterworth has taken up a new distribution role at an alternative asset manager, while Antipodes has hired a distribution director.
BlackRock’s iShares ETFs have reported a record first half for inflows, gaining US$192 billion in the past six months, to see overall ETF assets under management rise to US$4.7 trillion as it launches its first active ETF in Australia.
