Pengana has announced a joint venture with investment manager Washington H Soul Pattinson (WHSP) in the hope of democratising access to private credit for non-institutional investors.
WHSP had provided $200 million in seed funding to establish a diverse portfolio of global private credit investments, which Pengana had been building over the past year.
The firm said there had been rapid growth in global private credit for institutional investors in recent years and it was hopeful the deal with WHSP would make Pengana a market leader in providing exposure to private credit.
In the coming months, investors would be given the opportunity to invest alongside WHSP with the launch of several vehicles, specifically tailored to different market segments, including advised and direct retail investors, high-net-worth and family offices.
It was also assessing an opportunity to launch a direct-to-consumer (D2C) retail offering later in the year.
Russel Pillemer, chief executive of Pengana Capital Group, said: “Many everyday investors aren’t even aware of the size of this opportunity, purely because they have never had this level of access before.
“Investing in global private credit offers several significant benefits for portfolio construction, including diversification, higher yields, and lower volatility. By adding global private credit to portfolios, investors can achieve greater balance and potentially improve their risk-adjusted returns. But in Australia, there is an absence of vehicles which are appropriately structured for Australian retail and mass high-net-worth investors.”
Todd Barlow, chief executive of WHSP, said: “We are excited to partner with Pengana to provide Australian investors with a differentiated opportunity to invest in top-tier global private credit. We are highly impressed by the portfolio’s investment strategy, the access to investments and expertise. On this basis, we have made a substantial capital investment to seed the portfolio.”
Earlier this year, the firm announced that Brendan O’Dea, the firm’s chief investment officer, would join the Pengana board as a non-executive director, and WHSP was a major shareholder.
Former non-executive director Warwick Negus, who left Pengana to take up a role as chairman of the Bank of Queensland, had also spent time on the Washington board.
