Pengana expands non-insto private credit offering with SMA fund

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist

15 October 2024

Australian fund manager, Pengana Capital, has announced a new addition to its non-institutional private credit division, launching a separately managed account fund (SMA Fund).

The SMA Fund will be initially made available via the North platform, and is, according to the manager, the “only diversified global private credit product in the Australian SMA market”.

Nehemiah Richardson, CEO of Pengana Credit, said the new solution seeks to meet the growing demand for access to private credit opportunities among non-institutional Australian investors.

“Outside of Australia, global private credit is arguably the most highly sought after asset class. Yet there has been a severe shortage of applicable products available in the Australian non-institutional investment market,” he said.

“Even high net worth investors previously struggled to gain meaningful exposure, but now any Australian retail investor can access the same diversification and returns enjoyed by institutional investors.”

The SMA Fund joins Pengana’s other global private credit offerings borne out of a partnership with Mercer, including the TermPlus online term accounts for retail investors, the listed Pengana Global Private Credit Trust (PCX) and the unlisted wholesale Pengana Diversified Private Credit Fund.

“It’s important to recognise that not all private credit investment are the same,” Richardson said.

“Geography plays a big role as there are a number of differences between global private credit investments, and local Australian private credit.

“Global private credit is a huge market playing a major role in the US economy and many European economies. Australian private credit is mostly in areas where banks do not have credit risk appetite, for example commercial property.

“The other major consideration is the quality and track record of the underlying managers, and whether they have managed private credit investments through different cycles.”