Platinum’s Last Gasp: L1 Calls the shots in $1.46b deal

The documentation makes it clear that the Platinum name is going to disappear from the company moniker although we don’t yet know what the merged company will be called.
It hasn’t been an easy ride for an awful long time for Platinum’s investors, its shares dropping from as much as A$9.50 in 2015 to as low as 45 cents in June before the reverse takeover was proposed.

While Platinum has almost as much funds under management (FUM) as L1 – A$8.1 billion at June 30 compared with A$8.4 billion – the target company has been bleeding FUM with A$428 million withdrawn in just June alone and is now well below the 2015 peak at A$29.4 billion.

By contrast, L1‘s flagship A$4.8 billion long-short fund has delivered annual returns of 18.1% since its inception in September 2014 and its FUM has risen from A$500 million in January 2015 with A$3 billion attracted since the June 2022 financial year.

The relative performance of the two managers is reflected in the merger terms: Platinum shareholders will end up with 26% of the combined company with L1 being issued shares to take its stake to 74%.