Speaking in Sydney yesterday, Henderson Global Investors Australia executive chairman Rob Adams provided an update on the acquisitions of 90 West Asset Management and Perennial’s Fixed Interest and Growth businesses, announced on 2 June 2015.
Henderson’s acquisition of the Perennial businesses from IOOF will see 12 people become Henderson employees, said Mr Adams – Perennial Fixed Interest’s team of six led by Glenn Feben, and Perennial Growth’s team of six led by Lee Mickelburough.
Perennial Fixed Interest currently has $8.5 billion in assets under management (AUM), and Perennial Growth has $2.6 billion in AUM across four main strategies.
All 12 Perennial staff will remain in Melbourne, with the two businesses to be rebranded as Henderson Australian Fixed Income and Henderson Australian Equities, Mr Adams said.
“We’re not acquiring the services and the operational platform of the business – that stays with IOOF,” Mr Adams said.
“We don’t have Henderson’s full operational trading platform up and running [yet], but we will by November and that’s when we expect these [Perennial] deals to complete.”
The 90 West Asset Management has already completed, with the $300 million AUM natural resources boutique headed up by David Whitten having already been rebranded to Henderson Global Natural Resources.
Mr Adams acknowledged it is a “tough time” for global resources, but pointed out that 90 West Asset Management focuses on agriculture as well as energy and resources – and is being eyed with interest by investors in the UK, Europe and the US.
As the company builds out its operational platform to accommodate the new businesses, it is also hiring people in sales, marketing, finance, compliance and business operation roles, Mr Adams said.
By November Henderson will employ around 50 people in Australia, divided roughly equally in Sydney and Melbourne, he said.
Mr Adams said that if the acquisitions do “nothing else”, they bring Henderson’s business plan in Australia forward by around five years.
“Perennial businesses are on 20 platforms. They’re on model portfolios all over the countryside,” Mr Adams said.
“The discussions we’re having already with the key hubs are discussions we wouldn’t have been expecting to have for two or three years. So we’re really bringing forward our business plan through these transactions.”
