In an ASX listing on Wednesday, Perpetual announced that, after “careful consideration”, it has made the decision to close and wind up the Perpetual Global Innovation Share Fund and its associated class of units – the Perpetual Global Innovation Share Fund (Managed Fund) (ASX: IDEA).
“The decision to close the Global Innovation Share Fund, of which the active ETF is a class of the fund, is due to the fund not attaining, or expecting to attain, the scale required for it to remain viable, particularly in terms of investment and operating cost efficiencies,” a spokesperson for the investment manager told InvestorDaily.
“As part of a large global asset management business we must continually look at ways to leverage the strengths and scale of the broader Perpetual Group, to ensure we have a range of differentiated and competitive offerings in the Australian market, that we believe will deliver the best outcomes for our clients,” the spokesperson added.
The Global Innovation Share Fund was originally launched in May 2017, while its unit class was one of the firm’s first active ETFs to commence trading on the ASX.
As of 31 July, the fund had approximately $75 million in assets under management (AUM).
Perpetual launched another active ETF to the ASX around the same time as IDEA – the Perpetual ESG Australian Share Fund (Managed Fund) (ASX: GIVE). Its associated fund had $709 million in AUM as of 30 June.
“Today’s announcement does not impact any of Perpetual’s other active ETFs and we remain committed to having active ETFs as part of our product suite,” the spokesperson said when asked directly about its other active products.
Units in IDEA can be traded on the ASX up until 19 October, while the termination of the fund is scheduled for 24 October.
At the time that IDEA and GIVE were first announced, Amanda Gillespie, the then group executive at Perpetual Asset Management Australia said: “The launch of active ETFs is aligned with our strategy to invest in new capabilities and offer investors an additional channel (via the ASX) to access Perpetual’s proven active management expertise”.
“Both GIVE and IDEA are a unit class of their respective managed fund, utilising the same investment strategy of the applicable fund,” Ms Gillespie said.
“As the ETF market continues to grow, we expect investors will increasingly look towards ETFs that offer the benefits of active management when constructing their portfolios.”
