Perpetual to pay $5m in litigation costs
Perpetual Investment Management (PIML) will need to pay $5 million to cover Brickworks and Washington H. Soul Pattinson (WHSP) litigation costs, as a result of a decision made by the Federal Court of Australia last month which dismissed the firm’s claim that Brickworks had engaged in oppressive conduct including a cross-shareholding structure with WHSP.
Additionally, PIML said it decided not to appeal against the judgement.
According to the PIML board’s statement, announced to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), the company’s legal costs were progressively recharged to relevant funds and the amount charged to the date of judgement was $6 million with no further costs to follow.
The combined funds under management in the impacted funds were just over $8 billion.
Also, the Perpetual costs would impact its net profit after tax (NPAT) in FY18, as a one off non-recurring item and would be expected to stand at $3.5 million.
Perpetual’s chief executive and managing director, Geoff Lloyd, said: “At every step we acted in the best interest of our unitholders, and this continues with our board’s decision to align client interests and Perpetual interests by sharing the costs of litigation and absorbing all of the Brickworks and Soul Pattinson costs.”
AUTHOR
Oksana Patron
Recommended for you
The merger with L1 Capital will “inject new life” into Platinum, Morningstar believes, but is unlikely to boost Platinum’s declining funds under management.
More than half of the top 20 most popular shares bought by advised investors during the first half of 2025 were ETFs, according to AUSIEX data.
At least two-thirds of ETF flows are understood to be driven by intermediaries, according to Global X, as net flows into Australian ETFs spike 97 per cent in the first half of 2025.
Inflows for the first half of 2025 for GQG Partners stand at US$8 billion, but the firm has flagged fund underperformance could be a headwind for future flows.
