MA Financial sets its sights on $15bn AUM
MA Financial’s assets under management (AUM) surpassed $10 billion in its 2024 full-year results, thanks to strong inflows.
In the 12 months to 31 December 2024, the firm’s AUM grew 12 per cent from $9.2 billion in 2023 to $10.3 billion.
This was helped by record gross fund inflows of $2.2 billion, driven by strong demand for the alternative asset manager’s private credit funds.
“Inflows from domestic channels continued to grow very strongly as the group’s funds are increasingly benefitting from positive research ratings, their presence on investment platforms and inclusion in adviser group model portfolios,” the company said.
MA Financial signalled an AUM target of $15 billion by December 2026, stating: “Accessing new institutional and listed market capital channels builds confidence around [the] assets under management target.”
The firm’s statutory revenue rose 47 per cent from $392.8 million in 2023 to $576.7 million in 2024, while statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) was also up 47 per cent from $28.5 million to $41.8 million.
The board also declared a fully franked final dividend of 14 cents per share, taking the FY24 dividends to 20 cents per share.
Commenting on the full-year results, MA Financial joint chief executives Julian Biggins and Chris Wyke said: “We are very pleased with the strong momentum witnessed right across our business in the second half of 2024.
“Our assets under management and loan books continue to grow rapidly and the transactional environmental is slowly improving after a difficult period. Underlying EPS in FY25 is expected to be materially higher than FY24. We believe that the group is in great shape and ready to deliver strong earnings growth into the future.”
The firm also highlighted the successful $330 million raising for its first ASX-listed private credit trust, the MA Credit Income Trust (MA1), which is set to launch on 5 March.
“Record gross inflows were driven by strong investor interest in the group’s private credit funds. This demand has carried into early 2025 with the successful raising of $330 million for our first listed private credit trust, the MA Credit Income Trust.
“This represents an exciting milestone for the group, further broadening our distribution capability in the Australian market and extending the group’s reputation as a leading private credit asset manager. The fund will list on the ASX on 5 March 2025.”
The fund will provide diversified access to a number of MA Financial’s private credit investment funds in a listed trust and seeks to target a risk-adjusted return of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s cash rate plus 4.25 per cent per annum over a rolling 12-month period, net of management fees and costs.
AUTHOR
Jasmine Siljic
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