Why MA Financial is making its $3.7 billion portfolio available as an ASX-listed LIT
This interview was taped Thursday 23 January 2025.
Sceptical or not, you cannot question the boom we have seen in investor interest around private credit. But for most of its existence, private credit has been a wholesale or institutional investor-only domain. In other words, if you don't have the right paperwork and a $250,000 balance available for deployment, your application won't even get a look in.
But that's all about to change imminently, with MA Financial set to launch its first ASX-listed private credit trust in early March. The listing of the MA Credit Income Trust (ASX: MA1) will give retail and institutional investors the chance to access a $3.7 billion portfolio, and with it, 165 private credit investments.
To find out how it will all work, we sat down recently with Frank Danieli, Head of Credit Investments & Lending at MA Financial Group.
Why MA Financial and why list this product now?
This trust, Danieli says, is the product of investors' requests.
"They want something that's a little more liquid that they can trade on a daily basis, that they can move in and out of more frequently than you can do in a private fund," Danieli says.
"We've been asked for quite a while to bring something like this to market," he adds.
When I ask Danieli about what he thinks makes MA Financial different, he's quick to dismiss the regular talking points private credit managers bring us - that it's all about having a big team, deep relationships, and strong covenants. These traits, Danieli says, are "hygiene" tests and should be foundational in any investor's due diligence process. So what is different about MA Financial as an operator?
"There's probably three things that I'd call out - the first is alignment, the second is proprietary deal flow, and the third is workouts," he says.
Or put another way - eat your own cooking, do all your own work, and do your best to avoid the losers (rather than be a hero and pick the winners.)
Who is actually providing the massive demand we've seen for private credit investments?
As part of this Trust's listing, MA Financial are looking to raise up to $300 million in cornerstone investments. As of the time of this Fund in Focus' taping, they had already raised more than half of that goal. So who is fuelling this demand?
"There's over 60 different investors and investor groups that represent that $170 million. We like to have a diversified loan book and a diversified investor book," Danieli says.
"Our investor base spans private wealth groups, financial advisors, advisory groups, family offices, and high net worth individuals," he adds. "It's our existing clients and relationships that are backing us so far."
"War gaming" your portfolio
All investments carry risk and that's particularly true for an asset class like private credit which has only really shot to mainstream presence during the near-zero interest rates era. So how does Danieli and his team make sure their investors don't feel the brunt of a severe financial crisis should it hit? In short, they "war game."
"As part of our testing, we run a series of simulations on a regular basis. We do something called "war games" which is a massive stress testing exercise for our portfolio. We're simulating three extreme economic scenarios - a moderate recession, a severe recession, and a financial crisis or economic depression on all of our loans. We see what happens - which ones would be at risk, which ones wouldn't be, and how would we deal with that scenario," he adds.
"We want to make sure we are prepared with a 'break the glass here' plan that if those things do happen, we have the best chance to go in and protect investor capital."
What are you actually going to invest in?
While the trust will provide exposure to over 160 private credit investments, more than half of them will be asset-backed lending opportunities.
"Asset-backed lending means financing whole portfolios of loans out there in the real world economy. It can mean things like home loans, car loans, business loans, asset finance equipment or more specialised things like receivables or supply chain finance," Danieli says.
In his view, asset-backed financing exemplifies three key traits: it keeps things simple, it provides an opportunity to originate something innovative, and it provides diversification.
"Banks aren't our competitors. We're really partners in working together to efficiently provide capital into the real world economy," he adds.
Watch the rest of the Fund in Focus to hear Danieli talk about how MA Financial invest in this space, how frequently the trust plans to pay an income, and how it plans to answer the market's biggest ongoing concern about private credit - the lack of transparency in reporting results.
Find out more about the MA Credit Income Trust
Visit the MA1 webpage and contact clientservices@MAFinancial.com for more information.
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