Perpetual, the Australian funds management group, has announced a $153.7 million asset write-down, predominantly attributed to its investment in global fund manager JO Hambro. The write-down includes an additional impairment of $128.2 million, which is mainly related to the carrying value and goodwill of JO Hambro.
Perpetual said that certain key JO Hambro strategies had continued to experience greater than expected net outflows throughout FY25, a trend previously noted in Perpetual’s quarterly updates. Perpetual is a diversified financial services firm, specialising in asset management, wealth management, and trustee services. JO Hambro, on the other hand, is a global fund manager offering a range of investment strategies.
Perpetual’s acquisition of JO Hambro was part of its purchase of rival fund manager Pendal. This is not the first time Perpetual has written down assets related to these acquisitions. In August 2024, Perpetual booked a substantial $547 million write-down relating to its investments in both JO Hambro and US-based fund manager TSW, another entity previously owned by Pendal.
The repeated write-downs highlight the challenges Perpetual faces in integrating its acquisitions and managing the performance of its various investment strategies, particularly within the JO Hambro portfolio. Investors will be watching closely to see how Perpetual addresses these issues moving forward.
