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Alternative asset manager MA Financial Group (ASX: MAF) has launched its first listed investment trust, a $300 million private investment vehicle that aims to “avoid losers” rather than pick winners.
The MA Credit Income Trust (ASX: MA1), which is expected to list on the ASX on 5 March 2025, has already secured $171 million in cornerstone commitments.
The new investment vehicle is said to provide investors with greater access to the fast-growing asset-backed lending space both domestically and internationally.
MA Financial is lodging its product disclosure statement for the trust with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission ahead of a pre-listing offer period which begins next Tuesday, 28 January.
The fund will offer investors access to a portfolio of MA Financial’s flagship private credit strategies with the aim of providing investors with consistent monthly distributions and a focus on capital preservation.
“The launch of the MA Credit Income Trust marks an important step for MA Financial, as we continue to broaden our offering to clients and build our presence as a leading private credit asset manager,” says Chris Wyke, MA Financial’s joint CEO.
“We’ve seen enthusiastic initial demand from the market, with the commitment of $171 million in cornerstone capital on the way to our $300 million target for the impending offer period from 28 January to 10 February 2025.
“At the core of our culture is alignment of interests with our investors. Investors will join MA Financial and our staff who have co-invested over $190 million in all MA Financial private credit funds, including $160 million in the underlying private credit funds from which MA1 obtains its investment exposure."
The fund is targeting a return of the RBA cash rate plus 4.25 per cent per annum over a rolling 12-month period via exposure to a diversified portfolio of Australian, New Zealand and global credit investments.
MA Financial says investors in the fund benefit from exposure to an underlying $3.7 billion portfolio of 165 private credit investments, diversified across the group’s lending strategies which comprise direct asset lending, asset-backed lending and direct corporate lending.
“MA Financial’s private credit investment philosophy is based around avoiding losers, not picking winners,” says Frank Danieli, managing director and head of credit investments and lending at MA Financial.
“This mindset informs our approach to selecting and structuring investments, constructing our portfolios, monitoring positions and managing risk.
“In developing this fund in consultation with our key investors and industry stakeholders, we’ve prioritised two key aspects critical to them, being transparency and liquidity. These are fundamental to the investment proposition.
“The fund introduces asset-backed lending as what we suggest is a critical component of the investment mix, providing a missing piece for Australian investors, and also what we believe to be the next frontier of private credit globally.”
MA Financial has 9.9 billion in assets under management and posted record gross fund inflows of $1.6 billion for the nine months to 30 September last year. More than half of total assets under management, or $4.6 billion, is invested in private credit.
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