Damien Cottier

Perennial Partners has announced the establishment of its next-generation sustainable investment business, Perennial Better Future Pty Ltd.

Perennial Better Future will develop and manage investment strategies that aim to generate strong, consistent returns while contributing to a better future.

The investment strategy includes the Perennial Better Future Trust, and the eInvest Better Future Fund (Managed Fund) (ASX:IMPQ). The business will also manage ESG initiatives across the Perennial group.

The new boutique investment firm will be led by Damian Cottier, Portfolio Manager, together with Emilie O’Neill, ESG and Equities Analyst, and George Whiting, who will head up the institutional and retail business development for the boutique. Perennial Partners’ broader distribution team and 15 investment analysts will provide additional support.

Anthony Patterson, Executive Director of Perennial Partners, said the Perennial Better Future business was born out of a passion for sustainable investment.

“The world of sustainable investment has made a 180-degree turn in the last 15 years. Today, an investment in a sustainable business contributing to a better future is far more likely to lead to better returns than investing in conventional businesses,” he said.

“Perennial Partners has developed a leading-edge capability in sustainable investment and this business has been four years in the making. It launches having proven its investment thesis that benchmark outperformance can be achieved by investing in companies that are contributing to the improvement of society.”

Since its inception in 2018, the Perennial Better Future Trust has returned 13.3% per annum. It has outperformed the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Accumulation Index by 6.2% per annum and the ASX 300 Accumulation Index by 5.6% per annum since inception to the end of March 2021.

The Perennial Better Future Trust is rated ‘Investment Grade’ by Lonsec and ‘Approved’ by Zenith. Zenith has also assigned the Trust a Responsible Investment Classification of ‘Impact’, its highest classification.

Damian Cottier said rather than merely choosing the most sustainable stocks within sectors, the strategy is predicated on finding companies that derive the majority of revenue from positive outcomes, with zero revenue from harmful activities.

“We are focused on finding innovative smaller Australian companies.  Many of the companies in the portfolio have entered into global markets and have significant growth potential – they are often disruptors in their chosen markets, improving health outcomes, increasing efficiency and reducing costs,” he said.

“We have been pleased to play a role in driving these positive outcomes further by participating in capital raises to support the growth of these companies.”

Cottier added that the launch of Perennial Better Future Pty Ltd provided a new opportunity for Australians to invest for ESG impact.

“With the help of the financial advice community, we look forward to bringing a means for everyday investors to contribute to a better future by investing in companies that are helping to solve some of society’s biggest challenges,” he concluded.

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John Murray

Leading boutique fund manager Perennial Value Management Limited (Perennial Value) has announced that its senior executives planned to acquire the remaining 42.4 percent economic interest in the business from IOOF Holdings (ASX: IFL).

Perennial Value is a specialist, active investment management firm. Established in 2000, Perennial Value invests $5.6 billion on behalf of institutional and retail clients through a suite of trust products and discrete portfolios.

John Murray, Managing Director of Perennial Value, said: “We’re delighted to announce our intention to acquire the remaining IOOF interest in our business. This represents a further significant alignment of interests between our staff and our clients, and is a strong vote of confidence in our continuing commitment to delivering investment excellence, fostering a specialist investment management culture, and building a successful and sustainable funds management business.”

Perennial’s investment products will continue to be offered through IOOF platforms as well as other leading platforms and wrap accounts.

Anthony Patterson, Executive Director of Perennial, said: “This transaction will see the positioning of the Perennial Group as a multi boutique investment firm. We currently operate six boutique investment businesses, three under the Perennial brand, large cap Perennial Value, Perennial Value Smaller Companies and the Perennial Solutions Group, and three boutique affiliates Daintree Capital, an absolute return fixed income business, Fairlight Asset Management, a Global Small Mid Cap specialist and eInvest a provider of active exchange traded managed funds”.

“Our focus for the immediate future is as always on delivering good outcomes for our investors, but with an eye to the longer term, “Patterson said.

“In recent years, we have had a strong focus on building actively-managed niche capabilities.  We recently closed our Micro caps Trust at $200m on the back of very strong performance (total net return of 97.4% since inception in February 2017) and investor demand and also completed a capital raising for our Perennial Private to Public Opportunities fund, a wholesale offer taken up predominantly by higher net worth and family office investors.

“A major focus of this fund is investing in well-managed, strongly growing unlisted companies. We are very optimistic about the prospects for both Daintree Capital and Fairlight, which are both run by top-shelf investment executives who are passionate in their aim of delivering strong returns for their investors. Our ongoing development of eInvest reflects our view of growing investor demand for actively-managed exchange traded funds.”

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Bruce, who has been with Perennial Value since its inception in 2000, has previously held several portfolio management positions, including as co-portfolio manager to company founder John Murray in Perennial Value’s Australian Share Trust.

Bruce is lead portfolio manager for Perennial Value’s Shares for Income Trust and its recently launched eInvest Income Generator Fund. In his new role, Bruce will be responsible for the management of all broader cap Australian equities portfolios within the Perennial Value business.

Andrew King also joins the Perennial Value team as Mid-Caps Portfolio Manager.

King was a Founder and Director of Investments at Melbourne-based equities investor Concise Asset Management and previously held roles at Paradice Investment Management and Investors Mutual. He will join Perennial Value in mid-July 2018 and will assume portfolio management and analytical responsibilities for the firm’s forthcoming dedicated mid-caps capability.

Additionally, Andrew Smith who joined Perennial Value in 2008, is Head of Small and Micro Companies and manages the firm’s Smaller Companies Trust and Microcap Opportunities Trust.

In the changes being announced today, Smith will take responsibility for co-ordination of the stock research effort across the Perennial group, co-ordinating its analyst and research team to ensure quality investment opportunities are identified and reflected in clients’ portfolios.

Finally, long-term Perennial Value employee Damian Cottier has been promoted to the role of Portfolio Manager in the firm’s broader cap portfolios. Cottier joined Perennial Value in 2002 and has held a number of roles across dealing, research co-ordination, analysis and most recently as Portfolio Manager within the firm’s micro caps capability. His new role will see him provide a key pivot point linking Perennial Value’s smaller and larger capitalisation businesses.

The changes form part of a strategic transitional process in the management of Perennial Value’s large cap Australian share portfolios, which will see Perennial Value Founder and Managing Director John Murray gradually step down from day-to-day management responsibilities for these portfolios.

The transition, which has been long planned by the business and is expected to occur in an orderly fashion over the next 12-18 months, will see Murray remain as Managing Director of Perennial Value and continue to contribute his insights and perspectives to the investment management team.

Perennial Value Director Anthony Patterson said the changes would provide further opportunity, responsibility and career advancement to the senior investment executives of the business.

“Perennial Value has been focussed on succession planning and building depth across our 16-member investment team for many years. In addition to addressing our succession plan for John, the Board is taking the opportunity to position Perennial Value for the future,” Patterson said.

“Perennial Value recognises that investors’ needs are evolving and that we must ensure we are well positioned to adapt, whilst meeting the core objective of our firm – to deliver outcomes that exceed our investors’ expectations.

“Our future, supported by the appointments announced today, sees us renew our commitment to being recognised as the leading value manager in the Australian market.”

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