Pinnacle has seen a return to inflows in the first half of FY2023–24 as funds under management (FUM) surpass $100 billion for the first time.
In its half-year results for the six months to 31 December, the fund manager said it saw net inflows of $4.5 billion compared to net outflows of $1.5 billion a year ago.
Retail net inflows were $1.8 billion and international net inflows were $3.1 billion, both up from a year ago when they were $0.3 billion and $0.7 billion respectively.
Domestic institutional net outflows were $0.4 billion, but this was a significant improvement compared to outflows of $2.5 billion in the first half of FY22–23.
“Noteworthy” inflows in Australia were seen into the firm’s high-grade public credit, private credit and Australian small caps, while outflows were seen from global public real estate in response to asset allocation rebalancing.
The company previously flagged in the last quarter that the Australian institutional market was challenging as a result of asset class rebalancing and fund consolidation, but this month it reported that this has improved.
Founder and managing director Ian Macoun, said: “We saw robust net inflows, particularly across retail and international channels in challenging fundraising conditions. Conditions for generating new business remained challenging during the half, distribution result is credible in these conditions [and] our diverse platform of affiliates and strategies has enabled us to remain relevant to investors as risk appetite.
“Over the period under review, macroeconomic and geopolitical events continued to cause uncertainty in investment markets with challenging conditions for generating new business persisting particularly in the Australian market.
“Pinnacle has an excellent platform in place to continue to prosper – driven by growth in existing affiliates, incubating new affiliates and strategies, domestically and internationally as well as careful acquisitive growth into new asset classes and markets.”
Net profit after tax was $30.2 million, slightly down by 1 per cent from $30.5 million a year ago, and performance fees earned by affiliates post-tax contributed $12.3 million of the NPAT.
Funds under management across the 15 Pinnacle affiliates – which include Coolabah Capital, Firetrail and Hyperion Asset Management – was $100.1 billion, an increase of $8.2 billion. This was attributable to net inflows and market movements, and the largest FUM was seen at Metrics Credit Partners.
Some $14 billion of this came from outside Australia, and it said start-up affiliates in London, New York and Toronto are experiencing “early success” in FUM and investments.
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