Lazard reduces fees on Aussie equity funds
Lazard Asset Management has reduced the management fee on two of its Australian equity funds following a year of strong performance.
The firm said it intended for the cut to make funds a cost-effective option for a wider range of investors.
The retail management fee on the Lazard Select Australian Equity fund would reduce from 1.15% to 0.9% and from 1% to 0.9% for institutional investors.
On the Lazard Australian Equity fund, it would fall from 0.9% to 0.7% for retail investors and 0.75% to 0.7% for institutions.
According to its latest factsheet to 31 January, the Lazard Australian Equity fund had returned 22.8% over one year compared to 12.2% by the ASX 200. The Select Australian Equity fund had returned 32% over the same period.
The funds were managed by the firm’s Australian equity team which included Rob Osborn, Philipp Hofflin, Aaron Binsted and Tim Zhao.
Paul Cuddy, chief executive of Lazard Asset Management Pacific, said: “2022 was an exceptional year for our Australian Equity team as their patience in sticking with their valuation discipline during the later stages of the growth/momentum boom was rewarded.
“For more than 20 years, our Australian Equity Team’s process of identifying value has remained consistent and this has provided our clients with a compelling rate of return. We believe investors will need more exposure to highly concentrated, active strategies, with the market becoming more fundamentally focused, as the cycle of low rates and trending markets ends.”
The changes would take effect on 3 April, 2023.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
Recommended for you
Outflows from an Australian private markets fund manager have caused FUM at Pacific Current to decline by $1 billion in the last quarter.
Former RIAA chief executive Simon O’Connor has joined the ethical advisory panel at U Ethical Investors.
Financial services leaders are “all cashed up with nowhere to grow” when it comes to M&A activity, according to Deloitte, with 90 per cent saying they have strong balance sheets ready for an acquisition.
As fund managers are urged to diversify their product ranges, they are finding a faster way to do this is via an acquisition of existing firms but experts say it is not without potential culture clashes.
