Launched on the Australian Stock Exchange today, DIFF is an actively-managed diversified portfolio of liquid, mainly investment-grade securities, giving investors the opportunity to access assets such as senior debt and subordinated bank debt, which are generally more difficult to access directly.

DIFF is a unit class of the Perpetual Diversified Income Fund (DIF), a managed fund with $2.5 billion in funds under management^[1]. Over a 20-year history, DIF has delivered a net return above core inflation in 16 financial years to June 30, 2025. Further, the Fund’s gross total return has exceeded the Bloomberg AusBond Bank Bill index over rolling 3-year periods throughout every month since 2011. The Fund is managed by Perpetual’s Head of Credit and Fixed Income Vivek Prabhu, who has more than 20 years of investing experience. Perpetual’s credit and fixed income team comprises eight investment professionals managing more than $8 billion in funds under management.

Chief Executive, Perpetual Asset Management Australia, Amanda Gillespie said: “It’s important we continue to evolve our product suite, and this is another great example of how we can find opportunities that meet the changing needs of investors.”

Perpetual Head of Credit and Fixed Income, Vivek Prabhu, added: “Fixed income assets such as cash, bonds and credit offer defensive, lower-risk properties than equities and can help investors generate income, diversify their portfolios, preserve capital and hedge against economic conditions, which in today’s uncertain macroeconomic environment is a crucial element of an investment portfolio.

“With elevated equity valuations, uncertain growth outlooks and rising volatility reflecting challenging risk outlook for equities, together with interest rates trending downwards, credit and fixed income investments can offer a safer alternative with reduced volatility and better capital preservation than equities, while at the same time generating strong returns through different market cycles.”

The Fund aims to provide regular income and consistent returns above the Bloomberg AusBond Bank Bill Index (before fees and taxes) over rolling three-year periods by investing in a diverse range of income generating assets and will make distribution payments quarterly.

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[1] As at 30 June 2025

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The announcement reflects the planned retirement of Michael Korber, who will step down from this leadership position after more than 40 years in the industry and more than 20 years at Perpetual.

Vivek, who is currently Perpetual’s Head of Fixed Income, will commence in the leadership role from 1 July 2025. He has more than 30 years industry experience and has been with Perpetual for over 20 years, working closely with Michael and the broader team. He has a deep understanding of the team’s investment philosophy, process and approach, and has a proven track record as Portfolio Manager for the team’s income strategies, which collectively have more than $3.8 billion in funds under management. Vivek will continue in his role as Portfolio Manager for the Perpetual Diversified Income Fund, Perpetual Credit Income Fund and Perpetual ESG Credit Income Fund.

While Vivek will assume the Head of Credit & Fixed Income leadership role from 1 July, Michael will continue in his current Portfolio Manager role for a period of up to 12 months. Greg Stock, Perpetual’s current Head of Credit Research and Senior Portfolio Manager who has also been with the business for over 20 years, has been appointed Deputy Portfolio Manager for the Perpetual Credit Income Trust and Perpetual Pure Credit Alpha Fund and will work closely with Michael during the transition period.

Chief Executive, Perpetual Asset Management Australia, 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, ensures we will continue to deliver for our clients.”

Perpetual’s Credit & Fixed Income team comprises of eight investment professionals managing more than $8 billion in funds under management.

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Alex and James will manage Perpetual’s Small Cap and Microcap strategies. The announcement follows the upcoming departure of Jack Collopy, who will leave the business at the end of June following almost 22 years with Perpetual.

Perpetual Chief Executive, Australia, Amanda Gillespie said: “Jack has made an outstanding contribution to the business throughout his time at Perpetual. His investment performance has been strong and he leaves the team in a very good position to continue providing quality outcomes for our clients. We wish him all the best in the future.”

Alex and James will be supported by two dedicated small cap analysts who are already part of the Australian equities team, as well as research coverage from the wider analyst team.

“Perpetual has a long and proud history of succession planning and promoting from within. Both Alex and James had been promoted in recent years in anticipation of leadership roles within the business, and we are extremely confident that they will move seamlessly into their roles as Co-PMs,” Ms Gillespie said.

Alex has been Deputy Portfolio Manager of the Smaller Companies strategy for more than two years and has been a member of the investment team for eight years. He has covered the Telecommunications, Media and Retail sectors in that time and worked very closely with Jack in portfolio management.

James has more than 16 years’ industry experience and has spent time in various roles covering building materials, steel, paper and packaging sectors. He has been working on the Pure Value Share Fund in various portfolio management roles for almost four years. As at 31 March 2023, the Pure Value Share Fund has returned 24.96% p.a. over three years (net performance) compared to 16.59% for the ASX300 Accumulation Index^[1].

Perpetual’s Australian Equities team is one of the largest and most experienced in the industry and includes 7 portfolio managers and 9 analysts. Collectively, the team has an average of 19 years industry experience and more than 8 years at Perpetual.

As at 31 March 2023, 100% of Perpetual’s Australian equities strategies are outperforming their benchmarks over three years^[2].

“Over the past few years there has been a deliberate focus on ensuring a profile of experience and tenure across the team. Most recently we appointed an experienced large cap analyst – Jakov Males – who joined the team as a senior analyst in mid-April.

“Momentum is strong and the team is fully focused on continuing to providing quality investment outcomes for our clients.”

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[1] Past performance is not indicative of future performance. The Perpetual Pure Value Fund is constructed without reference to any benchmark and doesn’t form part of the fund’s investment objective. The S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index is used for comparison purposes only. The disclosure document or product disclosure statement (PDS) of any of the investment strategies should be considered before deciding whether to acquire or hold units in any strategy. Target Market Determinations for the PAMA funds are available on www.perpetual.com.au or calling 1800 022 033. Perpetual Limited ABN 86 000 431 827 Angel Place, Level 18, 123 Pitt Street Sydney NSW 2000, Australia Phone +61 9229 9000 www.perpetual.com.au
[2] Outperformance based on strategies with over A$100 million in AUM and provided on a gross of fees basis. Investment performance of the strategies may differ once fees and costs are taken into account. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. The disclosure document or product disclosure statement (PDS) of any of the investment strategies should be considered before deciding whether to acquire or hold units in any strategy. Target Market Determinations for the Perpetual funds are available on www.perpetual.com.au or calling 1800 022 033.

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The Lonsec Manager of the Year was awarded to Perpetual Asset Management in recognition of its well-established investment philosophy and process, as well as a long standing and strong investment culture.

“Perpetual Asset Management has been committed to its investment style and maintained its approach through multiple investment cycles. It has also broadened its exposure across asset classes and built out its focus on ESG,” said Lonsec Research Executive Director, Lorraine Robinson.

Amanda Gillespie, Perpetual Asset Management Australia Group Executive, said “It’s a tremendous honour to be awarded both the Lonsec Fund Manager of the Year and the Lonsec Multi Asset Fund of the Year, being recognised for our true-to-label approach, broadened investment management capabilities and ESG credentials.”

In a new category introduced this year, the Lonsec Sustainable Fund of the Year was awarded to the Martin Currie Ethical Income Fund. ‘The Martin Currie fund excels at both ESG and Sustainability and has delivered consistent excess returns over the last few years so is a worthy winner of this award,’ continues Lorraine Robinson.

To celebrate the great innovation and development taking place within the industry, Lonsec also recognised the T. Rowe Price Global Impact Equity Fund with the Innovation Award. ‘T. Rowe Price is leading the way in mainstreaming ESG investment strategies and offers a glimpse into the next leg of evolution to dark green products.”

“It was wonderful to be able to celebrate in person this year. Congratulations to Perpetual Asset Management and all the other winners and nominees in this year’s awards.”

The SuperRatings Fund of the Year went to Hostplus, recognising the fund’s strong results across our key assessment areas.

“Each year we examine funds’ end to end offerings across MySuper, Member Choice and Pension offerings to choose the Fund of the Year. Hostplus was competitive across the key metrics of net benefit, member servicing and engagement, as well as providing a broad offering from low cost investing right through to a tailored retirement proposition,” said SuperRatings Executive Director, Kirby Rappell.

Hostplus also received the MyChoice Super of the Year Award for its continued uplift across digital services, whilst executing strategic initiatives to make it easier for advisers to engage with the fund.

David Elia, Hostplus Chief Executive Officer, said “We are honoured to be recognised and awarded SuperRatings’ 2023 Fund of the Year. At Hostplus our members’ best financial interests are at the core of our decision making and the net benefit we provide to them at retirement.”

SuperRatings also announced its MySuper of the Year Award, with CareSuper winning this category. CareSuper also received the Smooth Ride Award, reflecting its focus on risk management and strong outcomes on a risk-adjusted basis. “CareSuper continues to generate strong net benefit outcomes, while also providing a competitive default insurance offering and is a worthy recipient of the MySuper of the Year Award.” said Kirby Rappell

TelstraSuper was awarded Pension of the Year. “TelstraSuper was selected based on the strength of the tailoring within its retirement solution, focus on innovation and digital capabilities, coupled with its strong advice and support services,” said Kirby Rappell.

“It is an honour to continue to recognise the best in the superannuation sector and award those funds which, in the last year, have helped their members to navigate an increasingly volatile landscape.”

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Amanda Gillespie

Perpetual Asset Management Australia has added to its suite of Exchange Traded Managed Funds (commonly referred to as Active ETFs) by today launching the Barrow Hanley Global Share Fund (Managed Fund) (ASX: GLOB) (Active ETF).

The Active ETF, which will be quoted on the ASX, aims to provide long-term capital growth through investing in quality global shares selected by specialist global investment manager, Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss, LLC (Barrow Hanley).

The Active ETF is a unit class of its respective managed fund, the Barrow Hanley Global Share Fund (Fund), which was recently upgraded to Gold Morningstar Analyst Rating (TM) as of 13 May 2022, following Morningstar’s annual review process^[1] .

Perpetual Asset Management Australia Group Executive, Amanda Gillespie, said: “In November last year we launched our first two Active ETFs, providing investors with an opportunity to access Perpetual’s proven active management expertise.

“We are pleased to launch another Active ETF that expands the investment options for investors, giving them access to companies from around the world, diversified across securities, sectors and regions.”

The Perpetual Ethical SRI Fund (Managed Fund) (ASX: GIVE), Perpetual Global Innovation Share Fund (Managed Fund) (ASX: IDEA) and Barrow Hanley Global Share Fund (Managed Fund) (ASX:GLOB) are now available to investors to access via the ASX.

The Fund is managed by Barrow Hanley, which is part of Perpetual Asset Management International and is a specialised leader in global value investing. As at 31 March, Perpetual Asset Management International Assets under Management was A$72.5 billion^[2] .

Ms Gillespie added: “Like Perpetual, the team at Barrow Hanley has a tried and tested approach to value investing in a global context that has stood the test of time through multiple market cycles.

“The launch of this Active ETF is another example of how we are continuing to look for opportunities to provide investment solutions in contemporary structures to meet the evolving needs of our clients.”

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[1] © 2022 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither Morningstar, its affiliates, nor the content providers guarantee the data or content contained herein to be accurate, complete or timely nor will they have any liability for its use or distribution. Any general advice or ‘regulated financial advice’ under New Zealand law has been prepared by Morningstar Australasia Pty Ltd (ABN: 95 090 665 544, AFSL: 240892) and/or Morningstar Research Ltd, subsidiaries of Morningstar, Inc, without reference to your objectives, financial situation or needs. For more information refer to our Financial Services Guide (AU) or Financial Advice Provider Disclosure Statement (NZ) at www.morningstar.com.au/s/fsg.pdf and www.morningstar.au/s/fapds.pdf . You should consider the advice in light of these matters and if applicable, the relevant Product Disclosure Statement before making any decision to invest. Our publications, ratings and products should be viewed as an additional investment resource, not as your sole source of information. Past performance does not necessarily indicate a financial product’s future performance. To obtain advice tailored to your situation, contact a professional financial adviser.
[2] Perpetual Limited Third Quarter 2022 Business Update. AUM translated at AUD:USD 0.75 as at 31 March 2022. Flows for Barrow Hanley and Trillium are from all sources, all regions.

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Ms Gillespie joins from Lonsec where she has been Group CEO for more than three years and will be responsible for Perpetual Investments’ business strategy, managing strategic initiatives and business priorities, and leading the Client Solutions and Strategy team.

Commenting on Ms Gillespie’s appointment to the newly created role, Group Executive for Perpetual Investments David Lane said, “This role will enable us to have a sharp focus on meeting the changing needs of our clients, and further exploring growth opportunities for the business.

“Amanda’s leadership strength, investment background and deep sector knowledge are the right fit for this role.

“We are delighted to have someone with Amanda’s depth and breadth of experience joining the Perpetual Investments team.”

Ms Gillespie said, “I am excited to be joining Perpetual at this important time for the business.

“I have always had enormous respect for the Perpetual brand and the calibre of the team, and I am looking forward to working with the business to identify and seize fresh opportunities.”

Ms Gillespie has more than 20 years of investment experience and during her time at Lonsec played a key role in building out Lonsec’s research and consulting capabilities.

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Matt Olsen

Leading research provider, Lonsec Research, yesterday announced Matt Olsen has been appointed as its new CEO, effective immediately, to replace David Erdonmez, who departed the business in June this year.

In his new role, Mr Olsen will be responsible for managing the research team of 25 investment professionals, overseeing the implementation of Lonsec’s robust investment research process for financial advisers, as well as supporting the evolution of its service offering.

Mr Olsen brings more than 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry, including equity analysis, fund manager research and portfolio management. Prior to joining Lonsec Research, he was most recently CIO at Energy Industries Super Scheme.

Amanda Gillespie, Director of Lonsec Research and Joint CEO of Lonsec Fiscal, said Mr Olsen had extensive investment and research experience and skills to lead the research business on a continued path of sustainable growth.

“Matt’s expertise lies in his deep understanding of investment markets, hands on experience analysing both listed securities and critiquing fund managers and critically, working with clients to support implementation of research insights,” Ms Gillespie said. “His established network of relationships with fund managers, financial advisers and super funds also makes him well suited for the role.”

Ms Gillespie said the appointment of Mr Olsen positioned Lonsec Research strongly to continue delivering high quality research services for clients.

“We have launched a number of new initiatives this calendar year and we are excited to have Matt joining the team to work with our clients, to discuss how the evolving Lonsec service offering can support their businesses.”

In April this year, Lonsec Research released an expansion of iRate, iRate 5, following the business’s acquisition of the technology at the end of 2014. In the same month, Lonsec Research launched an engagement tool for advisers, Goals Based Analysis tool, and a series of fund-specific metrics – BIOmetrics. The business has also broadened its research coverage to include ratings on separately managed accounts, listed invested companies and mFunds, as well as keeping pace with the expanding exchange traded fund (ETF) universe.

As a wholly owned subsidiary of Lonsec Fiscal Holdings, Lonsec Research is a leading provider of investment product research, ratings and portfolio construction insight to the Australian financial advice market, across a broad range of unlisted investments.

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Amanda Gillespie

One of Australia’s most successful and enduring small cap managers, the Pengana Emerging Companies Fund, has been awarded the prestigious Lonsec Icon Award at last night’s SuperRatings Fund of the Year Awards Dinner.

The Lonsec Awards provide an opportunity to highlight and recognise excellence within the investment and superannuation industry. The research house uses a mix of qualitative and quantitative measures to identify high achieving fund managers and investment products that have stood out amongst their industry peers.

The Lonsec Icon Award is given to a manager that has been able to sustain Lonsec’s highest rating – Highly Recommended – for a number of years.

Amanda Gillespie, Joint Chief Executive Officer of Lonsec Fiscal, presented the award to Steve Black and Ed Prendergast, the founders and senior fund managers of the Pengana Emerging Companies Fund, as well as Russel Pillemer, the CEO of Pengana Capital.

Ms Gillespie said the Icon Award was a distinct honour given the highly competitive nature of asset management in Australia.

“We are delighted to present this award to the Pengana Emerging Companies Fund team. Lonsec’s research team conducts a rigorous examination of all funds year on year, and this fund has been subject to a great many sets of eyes over the past decade. To maintain a Highly Recommended rating over a long period is a testament to the high regard with which this manager is held across our team,” Ms Gillespie said.

Pengana Senior Fund Managers Ed Prendergast and Steve Black said they were thrilled with the industry recognition.

“Small caps continue to deliver some exciting performance for investors, and provide a genuinely diversified source of returns within a broader Australian equity portfolio,” Steve Black said.

“We’ve maintained a conservative investment approach and avoided the higher risk or more speculative sectors that can bring a portfolio undone. Our assessment of the quality of a company’s management is the starting point,” Ed Prendergast added.

Established in 2004, the Pengana Emerging Companies Fund was the first partnership between an independent investment management team (Steve Black and Ed Prendergast) and Pengana Capital. On 1 November 2015 the team will celebrate eleven successful years together running Australia’s best performing small caps fund*.

The partnership illustrates the success of the Pengana model – where Pengana partners with talented investment managers to provide the operational and distribution support for a strategy, allowing the managers to focus on managing the portfolio. The structure also means investors enjoy very clear alignment of interests – as the managers have a 50% ownership stake in the fund, and their own money invested in it.

The Emerging Companies Fund is an active stock picker with an underlying belief that smaller companies are often incorrectly priced due to lack of broker coverage. The team takes a fundamental research approach – visiting more than 300 companies every year.

Pengana has limited the funds under management in the Fund to 0.5% of the Small Ordinaries Index in order to capitalise on the inefficiencies in this sector, which are often most evident in less liquid stocks.

“We focus on keeping the fund size to a manageable level. The fund also offers flexibility with the management team nimble enough to look at the smallest of the small end of the market,” the managers said.

Pengana currently manages around A$1.5 billion in assets across five established equity strategies spanning Australian shares, Australian small caps, global resources, global small caps, and Asian event driven.

*No.1 performing small cap funds since inception – MercerInsight MPA data for the 10 years to 31 August 2015.

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This was the message conveyed to the more than 500 Lonsec subscribers attending the recent Lonsec Adviser Roadshow held in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
 
Lonsec continues to operate with the largest retail research team in the Australian market, with more than 35 investment research professionals across managed funds, specialist products and investment consulting, Lonsec CEO, Amanda Gillespie, told attendees.

New appointments to the research team reinforce Lonsec’s commitment to quality research, she said.

Simone Gavin has joined Lonsec as a Senior Investment Analyst and is involved in the review of funds across all sectors, with primary focus in Australian equities, global equities, and global emerging markets. Simone has 13 years’ experience in financial services, including more than four years with Standard and Poor’s managed funds research team.

Nicholas Thomas has also joined Lonsec as a Senior Investment Analyst, and will be responsible for undertaking managed funds research, with a focus on equity sectors. With 13 years investment experience, Nicholas was most recently a Senior Research Analyst at Russell Investments, where he was responsible for researching Australian and Asian equity funds.

Edward Rickard and James Kirk have joined Lonsec as graduate investment analysts.

While research remains Lonsec’s core focus, Ms Gillespie said that Lonsec had responded to adviser needs in an evolving financial services environment, and augmented its core research with a number of strategic non-funds research activities. These include the creation of a new research pillar – Strategic Research, a retirement solutions service from Lonsec’s Investment Consulting team, the launch of an expanded ETF research suite, the transition to specialist data and analytical tools provider Financial Express and the launch of the Lonsec super comparator tool.

“The financial services environment is one of change. We are experiencing continual regulatory change, massive demographic shifts and a rapid pace of technological change that is impacting the way advice is delivered. Lonsec aims to provide advisers with the research and the tools they need to meet the needs of the end investor in this changing environment.”

The retirement income pressures created by the ageing baby boomers, and the significant opportunity it presents to advisers who rise to the challenge, was highlighted at the Roadshow by Wade Matterson, Practice Manager at Milliman.

He said existing analytical approaches are overly simplistic, do not measure risk adequately and have the potential to draw incorrect conclusions. To be effective, he said, the adviser toolkit needs to include the concept of ‘risk buckets’ in its framework.

Jeremy Pree, Lonsec General Manager Business Development, posed the question: Is an average balance of $400,000 enough? Mr Pree’s presentation reinforced that retirement strategies are not a ‘one size fits all’ solution.

While income is a key requirement in retirement, he said many retirees will still require a growth option to ensure a retirement income to sustain them through longer life expectancies. He outlined a number of listed investment options that can provide income solutions as well as the potential for capital growth.
 
The need for an advice-driven solution rather than a product-led solution is vital in an industry anchored to the accumulation way of thinking about the world, according to Lukasz de Pourbaix, Lonsec’s Head of Investment Consulting. Investor goals and risk tolerance change in retirement, and retirement strategies have to meet these evolving needs.

To manage investor expectations, the current disconnect between investor goals and risk profiling needs to be bridged. A goals-based approach, along with clearer measurement around the likelihood of achieving objectives, can assist in managing client expectations and personalising the investment strategy to client goals.

Later this year, Lonsec will be coming out with more material to assist advisers in implementing a goals-based approach for retiree clients.

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Amanda Gillespie, CEO Lonsec Research, welcomed the release of the findings, highlighted by ASIC’s acknowledgement that it will not require avoidance of conflicts of interest associated with direct payments from product issuers to research houses.

“It is pleasing that ASIC has acknowledged that indirect conflicts can be as potentially corrosive as direct conflicts to the integrity of the research and that it will not require the latter to be banned.”

The updated guidance highlights the fact that conflicts arising from cross subsidisation activities and indirect payments from product issuers to Research Houses share the potential to negatively affect the independence and integrity of the overall research process. Unlike direct conflicts, these conflicts can be far less transparent and in ASIC’s words “not be as readily apparent to a user of the research”.

“In actual practice, the conflicts that are associated with direct payments are more transparently managed, and audited for compliance, than indirect payments,” Ms Gillespie said.

“Indirect payments often involve convoluted cross business subsidies, and indirect product issuer derived revenue streams. In comparison, the most obvious conflict of direct payments from product issuers is less distorting and more manageable than the conflict inherent in indirect payments.”

Lonsec also welcomes ASIC’s decision that indirect payments be subject to the same disclosure requirements as direct payments from product issuers.

“Lonsec supports all regulatory efforts to improve the Research Report Provider segment, in particular those efforts which improve the quality of research, the management of its inherent conflicts and the professionalism of Research Providers generally,” Ms Gillespie said.

“It is important that all participants in the advice chain play their part in ensuring investors make well informed investment decisions. Advisers have been subject to FoFA reforms and it is entirely appropriate that Research Houses are now accountable to the outcomes of this review.”

“A robust research industry with strong participants and sufficient choice is an important element for financial advisers and the industry as a whole,” Ms Gillespie concluded.

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