FUM update: Magellan, Platinum bleed while Regal sees record inflows

Investors pulled more than $400 million from Magellan Financial in the final month of 2024, as the fund’s asset haemorrhaging resumes, while ASX-listed peers reported record inflows, as the firms release their first FUM updates for 2025.

In its monthly update to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), Magellan reported the more than 1% decline in funds under management (FUM) in the final month of 2024, falling to $38.6 billion, down from $39.1 billion reported in the previous month.

Outflows were evenly split between retail and institutional investor holdings, with the fund reporting net negative flows of $200 million from each investor category. As at end of December 2024, Magellan holds $16.1 billion in retail funds and $22.5 billion from institutional investors.

Most of the outflows were attributed to Magellan’s infrastructure equities holdings, which saw a net drop of $400 million for the month (hitting a total of $16.6 billion) as well as a $200 million decline in its Australian equities holdings (which now sit at $7.5 billion). However, global equities bucked the wider fall, increasing by $0.1 billion (totalling $14.5 billion).

The reported retreat in FUM will no doubt vex the fund, with executive chair Andrew Formica declaring in October that it had successfully slowed and even stemmed the sustained outflow of the preceding years, with FUM steadying at $38 billion between September and October.

“We have made significant progress in restoring stability to the business for our clients, staff and shareholders,” Formica said during the firm’s October AGM.

Magellan also declared performance fees of $6 million for the six months to 31 December 2024, up from the $1 million reported over the same period in 2023.

Meanwhile, fellow listed funds manager Platinum reported net outflows of $289 million over the final month of 2024, overwhelmingly due to the $247 million in net outflows recorded from its Platinum Trust Funds, the firm’s managed fund suite.

Despite this, Platinum’s total FUM saw a net increase of $93 million for the month, edging the fund just over the $11 billion mark in total assets. Nevertheless, this still is well short of $15.4 billion in assets reported by the global equities specialist at the end of 2023, following successive losses throughout 2024 (including a more than $1.7 billion drop between March and April).

Platinum’s assets were buoyed by year-end gains from its biggest fund, the Platinum International Fund (with $4.4 billion in total assets), which jumped 3.6% over the month, while its Platinum Asia Fund (with $2.1 billion AUM) also grew by 4.8%.

Performance fees were deemed “insignificant” in Platinum’s report to the ASX.

Alternatives specialist investor Regal Partners announced record net inflows for both its December quarter and the 2024 calendar year, with total assets reaching $18 billion at the end of 2024, a 4.6% increase (including $700 million from inflows) on FUM reported in the September quarter. Over the 2024 calendar year, assets are up $2.1 billion.

The positive bump in total FUM comes despite a reported $200 million loss from its investments over the quarter; however, these losses were, the firm said, offset by positive movements in distributions, buy-backs and foreign exchange movements.

Regal reports taking $25 million in performance fees over the six months to 31 December 2024, and $85 million for the calendar year.

GQG reported net outflows of US$200 million (AU$323 million) for the final month of 2024, bucking an overwhelming US$20.3 billion (AU$32.7 billion) inflow recorded for the calendar year – nearly double that recorded at the end of 2023 (US$10.2 billion).

The global equities powerhouse reports a total FUM of US$153 billion (AU$247 billion) for calendar year 2024.

FUM gains were recorded across the firm’s four equities holdings, including US equities (up 44% to US$16.7 billion), international equities (up 23% to US$57.2 billion) and global equities (up 20% to US$38.8 billion).

GQG did not declare a specific “management fee” or performance fee in its ASX release, though did note that this figure comprises “the vast majority of our net revenue”.

“Our management team remains highly aligned with shareholders and clients, and acutely focused on and committed to GQG’s future,” the firm wrote in its statement to the Exchange.