Platinum Asset Management has seen its first rise in funds under management (FUM) in seven months, helped by positive investment performance.
FUM rose from $12.2 billion in August to $12.5 billion in September, which was its first rise since February 2024 when assets rose from $15.1 billion to $15.4 billion.
However, net outflows remained high at $347 million, up slightly from $331 million in August.
“Positive investment performance drove FUM higher over the month in September 2024 to $12.5 billion, an increase of 2 per cent versus the $12.2 billion FUM in August. Net outflows over the month were approximately $347 million which included net outflows from the Platinum Trust Funds of approximately $299 million,” the firm said.
It particularly flagged performance on its $2 billion Platinum Asia Fund was up by 12.5 per cent on the previous month.
Regarding its ongoing “growth and reset” turnaround program, the firm said the first in its Platinum Partners Series, announced in August, would be a managed fund product set to launch in early 2025. The Platinum Partners Series will be partnerships with global institutional funds managers to help them reach the retail and wholesale audience.
Chief executive Jeff Peters said: “We believe the subadvisory Partner Series will have strong profitability, and while the fee rate will be lower in terms of what we realise, we will make that up by selling more in terms of flows and having reduced costs.
“Platinum brings a lot to the table in terms of distribution, we have 50,000 direct shareholders, over 11,000 adviser relationships, significant brand awareness and an established retail presence which is difficult for new players to access.”
It has also almost completed its product rationalisation and is due to undertake a merger of its open-ended active ETFs with two listed investment companies. This was announced in July as a way to allow shareholders to continue to access Platinum’s investment strategy via an ASX-quoted vehicle with the same investment objective as the LIC and hold units that will trade close to their net asset value.
“Product rationalisation is now largely complete with the boards of Platinum Capital Limited and Platinum Asia Investments Limited each entering into a scheme implementation deed to undertake a merger with our open-ended active ETFs PIXX and PAXX, respectively, subject to shareholder and court approvals.
“This action will permanently resolve the share price discounts that have been associated with their closed-ended listed investment company structure, while maintaining exposure to the same underlying investment team and process.”
