L1 Group CEO makes inaugural address on company’s future
In his inaugural address as chief executive of L1 Group, Julian Russell has outlined his vision of four growth pathways for the newly-merged $16.7 billion business.
Russell was appointed as chief executive last month to take over from Jeff Peters who departed with immediate effect. He was formerly CEO of vehicle management company FleetPartners and co-head of financial institutions at UBS Investment Bank.
Speaking at the company’s annual general meeting on 18 November, Russell discussed the future for the newly-merged L1 Group which was formed from the merger between L1 Group and Platinum Asset Management.
Merger priorities for him as CEO, he said, are delivering cost synergies, enhancing its investment capabilities, stabilising FUM and leveraging L1 Capital’s distribution and client servicing capabilities.
He particularly noted L1 Group has been “inundated” with enquiries from domestic and offshore fund managers who are looking to join or partner with L1.
There are four growth pathways he can see for the firm ahead:
- Growth of existing funds through performance and flows
- Extension strategies using our existing investment teams to expand high-quality strategies such as the recently launched L1 Global Long Short strategy
- Incremental joint ventures where we can attract new talented teams to launch products
- Selective M&A in situations where there is compelling logic and value accretion.
“L1 Capital has a strong track record of delivering capital-light growth through the application of disciplined principles.
“As you might expect, a number of these pathways are quite active and [L1 Group] now have a strong balance sheet in place to provide us with flexibility on all fronts,” he commented.
Part of this will be funded from an institutional placement in late October which raised $286 million. The equity raising was cornerstoned by MFF Capital Investments who contributed $80 million and Soul Pattinson with MFF’s Chris Mackay and Gerald Stack welcomed as strategic shareholders in L1 Group.
Proceeds from the equity raise will be used to fund co-investment in L1 Capital’s new Global Long Short strategy, provide co-investment support for another new strategy due to be launched near term, fund L1 Group’s expansion through incremental new investment strategies and support potential strategic opportunities including value accretive and complementary acquisitions.
Nevertheless, outflows from Platinum funds are set to continue with the firm having seen its FUM decline from $15.1 billion at the start of 2024 to $7.5 billion as of September 2025.
The Platinum International and Platinum Asia strategies represent circa 85 per cent of Platinum’s total FUM while the smaller Platinum brands represent 15 per cent. In a bid to stem outflows, management of Platinum International has been moved to L1 International with David Steinthal as portfolio manager.
“We expect a continuation of FUM outflows in Platinum, albeit at a slowing pace, over the next 18 months,” Russell said.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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