MA Financial & WAM launch listed investment vehicles
MA Financial Group’s new listed investment trust (LIT) has hit the ASX, while Wilson Asset Management confirms the upcoming launch of its ninth listed investment company (LIC).
Global alternative asset manager MA Financial Group confirmed its first listed private credit fund, the MA Credit Income Trust (MA1), is now available on the ASX as of 5 March.
The firm previously raised $330 million for the trust and closed fundraising early due to oversubscribed demand.
The MA Credit Income Trust provides investors access to a large, diversified portfolio of MA Financial’s flagship private credit strategies that each deliver consistent returns and outperform traditional benchmarks for fixed income investments.
In particular, the underlying portfolio of $3.7 billion offers exposure to 165 private credit investments, spread across direct asset lending, asset backed lending, and direct corporate lending.
According to Frank Danieli, MA Financial’s managing director and head of credit investments and lending, the listing of MA1 represents an important milestone for the asset manager.
“We are seeing unprecedented demand in LITs in Australia, with market capitalisation for credit LITs growing by over 12 times since December 2017. Listed investment trusts focused on private credit, in particular, have performed strongly and often trade at a premium to NAV,” he said.
“While MA1 has been developed with this enthusiastic market demand in mind, we are also placing emphasis on transparency and liquidity throughout our portfolio selection, construction, and monitoring process. We look forward to expanding our offering to our clients and strengthening our presence as a leading private credit asset manager.”
Last month, MA Financial reported a 12 per cent growth in its assets under management, from $9.2 billion in 2023 to $10.3 billion over the 2024 full-year period. This was helped by record gross fund inflows of $2.2 billion, driven by strong demand for the alternative asset manager’s private credit funds.
Wilson Asset Management (WAM) to launch new LIC
In a separate announcement, WAM reported that it has lodged the prospectus with ASIC for its new LIC, the WAM Income Maximiser Limited (WMX).
The LIC aims to deliver monthly franked dividends to investors by investing in high-quality equities and corporate debt, WAM stated.
The asset manager expects the offer to open on 19 March and has allocated $180 million for its current 130,000 shareholders as a priority offer.
“In recent years, we’ve had continued interest from our shareholders in a LIC structure that provides a stream of monthly franked dividends. Our ninth LIC, WAM Income Maximiser, will offer a vehicle for investors to execute on this objective,” it stated.
“Beyond meeting existing shareholder demand, the launch of WAM Income Maximiser addresses what we see as a critical gap in the Australian equity market, particularly where recent changes to abolish ‘bank hybrids’ have significantly reduced sources of franked income and an avenue of diversification for Australian investors.”
AUTHOR
Jasmine Siljic
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