Pendal commits to Australian market
Pendal is considering bringing new funds to the Australian market after Australian funds experienced a record year for inflows in FY21.
Speaking to Money Management, Pendal chief executive, Nick Good, said the firm had seen “stand-out results” for the year to 30 September, 2021.
Australia accounted for $155 million out of a total of $581 million in revenues, up from $147 million in the previous year while funds under management in the region were $46.5 billion.
Its Australian funds saw a record year in inflows of $0.8 billion and the firm highlighted that 100% of its Australian equity funds had outperformed their benchmarks over the past five years which had contributed to a four-fold increase in total performance fees to $57.5 million.
“We are really pleased, the results have been very strong and it has been a strong year overall. We have taken real steps forward strategically,” Good said.
“Australia is a small but crucial part of the overall business and a very important market for us. We have a real opportunity to be on the front foot here and bring over global products.”
The firm had made its Global Select fund available to Australian investors and expected to launch the Regnan Sustainable Water and Waste fund into Australia next year.
The Global Select fund was managed by the UK-based asset manager J O Hambro Capital Management and had been run for 17 years with assets under management of more than US$5.3 billion ($7.1 billion).
Good also highlighted that Pendal expected to complete its exit of Westpac by the end of the next financial year. However, it still remained a “material risk” for the company. The Westpac book saw outflows of $1.4 billion, the majority of which came from lower margin cash strategies, and made up 12% of funds under management.
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