In the monthly update released to the ASX, the fund manager said on Friday its funds under management (FUM) in March suffered a 2.8 per cent drop from $38.6 billion to $37.5 billion.
This was due to net outflows of $0.6 billion – $0.2 billion from retail investors and $0.4 billion from the institutional channels – and slightly higher outflows in the previous month, which stood at $0.5 billion.
These flows led to a 5 per cent decline in retail FUM, from $15.7 billion to $14.9 billion, while institutional FUM dropped 1.3 per cent, from $22.9 billion to $22.6 billion.
The figure brings FUM largely in line to where it was a year ago, with total FUM standing at $37.3 billion back in March 2024.
Breaking it down by specific asset classes, global equities and Australian equities both reported a drop of around 5 per cent in FUM during March, while infrastructure saw a moderate rise.
Global equities, which includes its flagship Magellan Global Fund run by Arvid Streimann and Alan Pullen, dropped by 5.6 per cent from $14.2 billion to $13.4 billion. On the Australian equities division, FUM fell by 5.2 per cent from $7.6 billion to $7.2 billion.
Infrastructure FUM rose from $16.8 billion to $16.9 billion, offsetting the departure of its investment head Gerald Stack with the second consecutive month of gains. During February, assets had risen from $16.7 billion to $16.8 billion.
At the end of January, it was announced that Stack would depart in July. Magellan has since confirmed that portfolio manager Ben McVicar will take over as head of infrastructure, though a new head of investment has yet to be named.
This announcement initially raised concerns about significant outflows, as Stack had been with the firm for 18 years and infrastructure assets are typically held by institutional investors, who are generally less loyal to funds than retail investors.
Speaking in February, chief executive Sophia Rahmani said: “Gerald has done the best he can to put together a textbook succession plan, and the reaction we’ve seen from clients and institutional consultants has supported that. We have always had five infrastructure managers, so our clients know them. To our clients, Gerald’s departure wasn’t a huge shock to them, and they are happy to see Ben elevated to lead that team.
“No client has indicated an immediate loss of assets under management, but we do recognise the risk of listed infrastructure as an asset class. I would say the client and consultant reaction we saw was what we expected in terms of it being a long-term transition.”
