MA Financial Group has announced the launch of the MA Credit Income Trust (ASX: MA1) on the ASX – its first listed private credit fund.
According to the firm, the fund will offer investors access to a diversified portfolio of MA Financial’s flagship private credit strategies.
In particular, this comprises an underlying $3.7 billion portfolio of 165 private credit investments, spanning lending strategies, including direct asset lending, asset-backed lending and direct corporate lending.
These, it said, have each delivered consistent returns and outperformed traditional benchmarks for fixed income investments since inception.
Commenting on the announcement, Frank Danieli, managing director and head of credit investments and lending at MA Financial, said: “The listing of MA1 marks an important milestone for MA Financial Group.”
According to Danieli, the firm is witnessing unprecedented demand in listed investment trusts (LIT) in Australia, with market capitalisation for credit LITs growing more than twelvefold since December 2017.
“Listed investment trusts focused on private credit, in particular, have performed strongly and often trade at a premium to NAV.”
“While MA1 has been developed with this enthusiastic market demand in mind, we are also placing emphasis on transparency and liquidity throughout our portfolio selection, construction and monitoring process,” Danieli added.
“We look forward to expanding our offering to our clients and strengthening our presence as a leading private credit asset manager.”
In January, after first announcing the launch, Danieli explained that the firm’s private credit investment philosophy is based around “avoiding losers, not picking winners”.
“This mindset informs our approach to selecting and structuring investments, constructing our portfolios, monitoring positions and managing risk,” he said at the time.
In developing the fund in consultation with investors and industry stakeholders, the managing director said MA Financial has prioritised two key aspects that are “fundamental to the investment proposition” – transparency and liquidity.
“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.”
