Vivek Prabhu will lead the team from 1 July, promoted from his current role as head of fixed income which he has held since 2016. He will remain as the fund manager of the Perpetual Diversified Income, Credit Income and ESG Credit Income funds.
The credit and fixed income team collectively manages more than $8 billion in assets under management.
He will replace Korber who has spent more than 20 years with Perpetual, the last five as managing director for credit and fixed income, and 40 years in the industry. Prior to joining Perpetual, he spent 16 years at Macquarie Group.
While he will retire from the leadership role, the asset manager said he will retain his portfolio manager responsibilities for up to 12 months.
On the Perpetual Credit Income Trust and Pure Credit Alpha Fund, the firm has appointed Greg Stock to work alongside Korber as deputy portfolio manager. Stock is currently the head of credit research and a senior portfolio manager, and has worked at Perpetual for 20 years.
Perpetual Asset Management Australia chief executive, Amanda Gillespie, said: “Michael’s contribution, not only as a leader in our business but as one Australia’s most respected credit and fixed income investors, has been enormous. We are incredibly thankful for the commitment and dedication he has shown to providing quality client outcomes and building such a strong and talented team throughout his tenure at Perpetual.
“Importantly, Perpetual has a long and proud history of developing and promoting talent from within, and our focus on succession planning ensures we have the strength and depth for this transition.
“Vivek is a highly respected portfolio manager and his natural leadership skills, commitment to fostering strong and collaborative teams, coupled with his dedication to providing quality investment outcomes, ensure we will continue to deliver for our clients.”
In its quarterly update for the three months to 31 March, the firm said assets under management (AUM) had declined from $230.2 billion to $221.2 billion. This decline was driven by outflows of $8.9 billion, primarily in global and US equities and cash, and negative currency movements of $0.9 billion, marginally offset by positive market movement of $0.7 billion.
