Maple-Brown Abbott (MBA) has finalised an agreement to be acquired by Antipodes Partners to create a firm with $18.6 billion in assets under management (AUM).
This will see MBA’s global listed infrastructure, Australian value equities, and Australian small companies investment teams operate autonomously under the Maple-Brown Abbott brand, alongside Antipodes’ existing global equities investment team.
Antipodes, which is an affiliate of Pinnacle Investment Management, will oversee combined $18.6 billion in AUM. However, the terms of the deal were not disclosed.
MBA’s global listed infrastructure investment capability will continue to be majority owned by its investment team led by Andrew Maple-Brown, Steven Kempler and Justin Lannen, and managed as a discrete entity.
There will be no changes to personnel within the MBA Australian value equities and MBA Australian small companies teams, which will report to Andrew Findlay, Antipodes’ managing director and CEO.
Findlay said: “MBA is a storied investment boutique with well-respected and well-rated strategies servicing clients globally. Our business model, backed by Pinnacle’s institutional-grade fund infrastructure and global distribution capabilities, provides a stable and focused environment for the MBA teams to continue delivering for clients well into the future.
“In partnership with the MBA teams, Antipodes is committed to building an enduring, diverse and scaleable investment management platform, alongside clients, staff and the Pinnacle Group.”
MBA was established as an investment management firm in 1984 and manages $9.1 billion on behalf of a diverse range of global and Australian institutional, wholesale, family office and retail clients.
Andrew Maple-Brown said MBA and Antipodes shared common client-centric values and mutual ambitions to grow and strengthen a multigenerational active management platform.
“The Maple-Brown family, as majority owners of MBA, is proud of what the business has achieved in the past 40 years. Starting with the late Robert Maple-Brown AO and Christopher Abbott AM first managing $35 million back in 1984, we have expanded significantly, held true to our investment philosophies, and evolved to be the diversified business we are today. I have no doubt Maple-Brown Abbott is now positioned for this legacy to continue for many decades to come.”
Earlier this year, former chief executive Sophia Rahmani, who led the firm for almost five years, left to join Magellan Financial Group as managing director of its asset management arm.
