Magellan is set to host more than 700 advisers and investors in one of the biggest-ever fund manager events in NZ tomorrow (Tuesday).
Hamish Douglass, Magellan chief, will headline the Auckland gig along with a special guest, as the ASX-listed funds management giant enters the final leg of an eight-city Australasian roadshow.
The global equities specialist is expected to draw total crowds of 15,000 or so across the tour, which concludes with two shows in Magellan’s home-town of Sydney later this week.
Historically, Magellan roadshows have been restricted to financial advisers but the latest events have been opened up to investors for the first time – albeit as paying guests. (Ticket prices for the Auckland show range from $25 to $75 with all proceeds in NZ donated to the Sweet Louise breast cancer charity )
Douglass will have plenty of material to work with this week given the coronavirus-prompted market gyrations over the last few days but the impact of low interest rates and geopolitical trends are also high on the agenda.
With over A$100 billion under management at the end of January, Magellan is just about the same size as the total NZ retail funds market.
According to the latest Magellan results published in February, retail investors account for about 30 per cent of funds under management with institutional clients – many based in US and Europe – holding the lion’s share.
For the 2019 calendar year, Magellan reported total revenue of about A$330 million (up $60 million compared to 2018), with retail income representing slightly more than half.
Australia and NZ clients pitched in over A$206 million of Magellan revenue over the latest annual period, the results show. Magellan does not report NZ figures separately but the firm, which established an Auckland office nine years ago under Parry Moraji, would likely rank as one of the largest global equities managers in NZ.
The group reported a net profit after tax of almost A$196 million last year as average funds under management soared by close to 30 per cent.
Magellan has built its reputation on global equities chops expressed through a handful of core unlisted and listed vehicles but the business has diversified of late.
In 2018 Magellan bought Australian shares business Airlie Funds Management (founded by well-known investor, John Sevior). Currently, Magellan – one of the earliest to launch an active exchange-traded fund – is re-engineering the Airlie business into a first-of-its-kind dual listed-unlisted product.
The Airlie fund will be available in listed and unlisted form under a single registry system managed by Australian administration firm Mainstream Fund Services.
Australian trade publication, Investor Strategy News reported last week that the unified registry “means fund managers won’t have to set up separate vehicles to give their investors all the advantages of a listing”.
Martin Smith, Mainstream chief, said: “It will be very appealing for managers to only run a single register for their off-market, or unlisted fund investors, and on- market investors. Running one fund structure is clearly much more efficient than running two.”
Magellan has a few other side projects on the go, too.
In its results update last month, the manager said it expected to launch the new Magellan Retirement Fund “before the end of the financial year”. Retirement income products are becoming more important in Australia in the wake of looming requirements for superannuation funds to offer such options to members.
As well as the retirement income fund, Magellan says it continues “to assess a number of partnership initiatives to add resilience and diversity to our business over time”.
The Auckland Magellan show kicks off at 4:30pm on Tuesday at the Cordis Hotel. “Evening concludes,” at 8:30pm, Magellan says.