Phil King’s Regal builds stake in Platinum Asset Management
Summary
Regals chairman Michael Cole was the chairman of Platinum from its sharemarket float in 2007 until he left the board in 2020.Regal established a market presence this year via a merger with Robert Lucianos hedge fund manager VGI Partners. Her last known stake was exited via broker Jarden back in January 2022, realising $70 million, following a more substantial sale in 2021.Sources said at least part of those sales were prompted by a so-called reverse inquiry, in which an interested party approached the broker about buying shares.Tuesdays after-market filing shows that Regal bought $6.7 million shares in three separate trades during June, bought a further $5.2 million shares in late July, followed by a $5.1 million trade on Friday.As it happens, Regal upped its stake into substantial territory on the same day that Mr Clifford in effect signalled to the market that the Platinum share price was not low enough to enact a buy-back program that has technically been in place since 2016.Platinums revenues are tied to volatile global markets thus complicating the decision to buy back shares, the Platinum boss said at the time. The slide in Platinums share price led to its deletion from the S & P/ASX 200 Index in the June quarterly rebalance.Platinum, like other active managers, has been beset by outflows as retail and institutional investors, frustrated by market underperformance, have opted for lower cost investment options and more growth-oriented investment styles.However, the fund manager has fared better in 2022. Platinums flagship international fund fell 5.9 per cent over financial 2022, beating its benchmark by 2.1 percentage points. Platinum reported that in August investors pulled about $100 million from its funds, reducing its assets under management to $17.8 billion.