Why MA Financial is making its $3.7 billion portfolio available as an ASX-listed LIT

Find out how the MA Financial team narrow down a $15 billion opportunity set to the few projects they'll take on.
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Hans Lee

Livewire Markets

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.

Livewire's Hans Lee and MA Financial's Frank Daniel
Livewire's Hans Lee and MA Financial's Frank Danieli

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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Disclaimer 1. The Fund invests in an underlying portfolio providing exposure to over $3.7bn of private credit assets. 2. Target return is over a rolling 12-month period and is pre-tax, net of Management Fees and costs. Refer to the Fund’s Product Disclosure Statement for further information on target returns and Fund details. 3. As at September 2024. Equity Trustees Limited (“Equity Trustees”) (ABN 46 004 031 298), AFSL 240975, is the Responsible Entity for the MA Credit Income Trust ARSN 681 002 531 ("the Fund"). Equity Trustees is a subsidiary of EQT Holdings Limited (ABN 22 607 797 615), a publicly listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: EQT). This communication has been prepared by MA Investment Management Pty Ltd (“MA”) as a representative of MAAM RE Ltd AFSL 335783 (“MAAM RE”) to provide you with general information only. In preparing this communication, we did not take into account the investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any particular person. Because of that, before making an investment decision you should consider the appropriateness of this information having regard to those objectives, situation and needs. It is not intended to take the place of professional advice and you should not take action on specific issues in reliance on this information. Neither MA, Equity Trustees nor any of their related parties, their employees or directors, provide any warranty of accuracy or reliability in relation to such information or accepts any liability to any person who relies on it. Past performance should not be taken as an indicator of future performance. You should obtain a copy of the Product Disclosure Statement (“PDS”) available at mafinancial.com/ invest/private-credit/ma-credit-income-trust/ and Target Market Determination (“TMD”) available at www.eqt.com.au/insto/ and consider both the PDS and TMD before making a decision about whether to invest in this product. Neither the Responsible Entity nor any MA Financial group entity guarantees repayment of capital or any particular rate of return from the Fund. All opinions and estimates included in this document constitute judgments of MA as at the date of this communication and are subject to change without notice. Statements contained in this communication that are not historical facts are based on expectations, estimates, projections, opinions and beliefs of MA as at the date of this communication. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, and should not be relied upon in making an investment decision. Any references in this communication to targeted or projected returns of the Fund are targets only and may not be achieved. Investment in the Fund is subject to risk including possible delays in payment or loss of income and principal invested. This information is intended for recipients in Australia only. The address and telephone details for MA and MAAM RE are Level 27, Brookfield Place, 10 Carrington Street, Sydney NSW 2000 and +61 2 8288 5594. The Responsible Entity’s address and telephone details are Level 1, 575 Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 and +61 3 8623 5000. MA's directors and employees and associates of each may receive remuneration in respect of advice and other financial services provided by the Responsible Entity in relation to the Fund. The Responsible Entity has entered into various arrangements with MA in connection with the management of the Fund. In connection with these arrangements MA may receive remuneration or other benefits in respect of the financial services it provides, including a management fee of 0.90% per annum of the portfolio value of the Fund attributable to direct credit investments. MA Financial group entities also receive management and performance fees of up to 1.35% per annum from managing the underlying investment vehicles indirectly invested into by the Fund. This document is issued by the Responsible Entity on a confidential basis and no part of this material may be reproduced or disclosed, in whole or in part without the prior written consent of the Responsible Entity. Livewire gives readers access to information and educational content provided by financial services professionals and companies (“Livewire Contributors”). Livewire does not operate under an Australian financial services licence and relies on the exemption available under section 911A(2)(eb) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) in respect of any advice given. Any advice on this site is general in nature and does not take into consideration your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making a decision please consider these and any relevant Product Disclosure Statement. Livewire has commercial relationships with some Livewire Contributors.

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Hans Lee
Senior Editor
Livewire Markets

Hans is one of Livewire's senior editors. He is the creator and moderator of Livewire's economics series "Signal or Noise". Since joining Livewire in April 2022, his interview record includes such names as Fidelity International Global CIO Andrew...

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