| Magellan Financial Group | |
| Type: | Public |
| Industry: | Investment management |
| Foundation: | 2006 |
| Hq Location City: | Sydney, New South Wales |
| Hq Location Country: | Australia |
| Aum: | A$101.3 billion (31 Dec 2020) |
| Num Employees: | 133 (31 Dec 2020) |
Magellan Financial Group is an Australian investment manager focusing on global equities and global listed infrastructure.
MFG funds are available to retail and institutional clients in both Australian Securities Exchange-listed and unlisted forms. As of 31 December 2020, institutional clients held A$73.9 billion of assets under management, composing 73% of total.
Alongside the dominant funds management business segment where the majority of operations are concentrated on the Group balance sheet includes a Principal Investments portfolio that has historically been composed of internal holdings in Magellan funds.[1]
In the second half of 2020, MFG commenced significantly expanding its Principal Investments segment to include an external portfolio, initially undertaking three investments:[2]
MFG was co-founded in 2006 by Hamish Douglass and Chris Mackay off the back of careers in investment banking. The MFG entity was established through a complex recapitalisation deal where an existing listed vehicle—the underperforming Pengana HedgeFunds Group—was taken control of and renamed,[3] severing formal ties with the previous entity.[4] [5] Pengana had been founded in 2003 by Malcolm Turnbull, who was later to become Australian prime minister, and a merchant banking colleague, Russell Pillemar. The Turnbull family retained 20 per cent of the new company after the merger.[4]
Douglass and Mackay used their contacts to raise approximately A$100 million in initial working capital for Magellan and to seed the investment strategies. At the same time, A$378 million[6] was raised to establish the Magellan Flagship Fund in a closed-ended listed investment company structure (ASX code: MFF).[7] [8]
In July 2007, MFG launched the Magellan Global Fund and Magellan Infrastructure Fund as unlisted trusts, providing A$15 million and A$5 million of seed capital respectively.[9] As at 31 December 2020, their direct successor funds have increased to about A$15.6 billion and A$2.5 billion respectively, though more broadly the underlying strategies have increased to A$75.1 billion in Global Equities and A$18.2 billion in Global Listed Infrastructure, across a number of investment vehicle variations.[2]
In December 2021, Brett Cairns resigned from his position as CEO.[10] In March 2022, co-founder Hamish Douglass resigned from the Magellan board and co-founder Chris Mackay took up the role of Chairman.[11] David George was appointed CEO in May 2022.[12]