Magellan ETFs dominate in AUM declines
Three Magellan ETFs have seen the biggest assets under management decline in the past year, according to Stockspot, with one losing a quarter of its assets.
The firm’s Stockspot ETF report tracked the ETFs which had seen the best and worst growth in assets under management in the FY2022-23.
Magellan held three spots in the top five ETFs with the biggest AUM decline.
Its flagship Magellan Global Fund Open Class Units (Managed Fund) was the worst ETF overall with AUM losses of $2.4 billion, some 25.3 per cent.
The fund, managed by Nikki Thomas and Arvid Streimann, is currently $7.1 billion in AUM, down from $9.4 billion in June 2022. Over the year, it has returned 20.6 per cent versus returns by its MSCI World benchmark of 22.4 per cent.
Magellan Infrastructure Fund (Currency Hedged) (Managed Fund) was in second place with losses of $145 million, some 16.6 per cent.
Finally, the Magellan High Conviction Trust (Managed Fund) lost $85 million, which represented 15.9 per cent of its AUM.
Overall funds under management at Magellan Financial Group declined from $61.3 billion at the end of June 2022 to $39.7 billion.
Rounding out the top five largest AUM losses were ActiveX Ardea Real Outcome Bond Fund which lost $120.5 million (13.1 per cent) and Betashares Crude Oil Index ETF Currency Hedged (Synthetic) which lost $64.8 million (28.4 per cent).
Looking at strategies with the greatest growth, the $12.3 billion Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF gained $1.9 billion. This included more than $1 billion in net inflows.
Over one year to 30 June, this ETF returned 14.3 per cent in line with the S&P ASX 300 index returns of 14.4 per cent.
Its International Shares Index ETF sat in second place with a growth of $1.7 billion (37.7 per cent).
In percentage terms, Betashares Australian High Interest Cash ETF saw growth in AUM of more than 80 per cent as it gained $1.4 billion to bring total AUM to $3 billion. Stockspot noted cash ETFs were popular in an environment of rising interest rates.
Other ETFs with strong AUM growth were VanEck MSCI International Quality ETF and Betashares NASDAQ 100 ETF.
Stockspot said: “The ETFs with the largest yearly assets under management growth were low-cost vanilla ETFs tracking broad-based share markets.
“Active fund managers struggled to retain their assets as the industry continues to see outflows from active ETFs.”
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
Recommended for you
Bennelong Funds Management chief executive John Burke has told Money Management that the firm is seeking to invest in boutiques in two specific asset classes as it identifies gaps in its product range.
Responsible investment performance concerns have lessened as the market hits $1.6 trillion in AUM, according to RIAA’s annual report, but greenwashing fears among asset managers are on the rise.
Research by Morningstar has found fixed income funds are bucking a general trend around managed fund fee dispersion with a smaller fee dispersion compared to equity ones.
As investors seek to diversify their portfolios, the naming of bond labels has broadened out to include green, social and impact bonds, according to the annual RIAA report.
