Platinum’s co-CIOs Andrew Clifford and Clay Smolinski step down
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The news: Platinum Asset Management’s co-chief investment officer and co-founder Andrew Clifford will step down from his global portfolio management responsibilities and co-CIO role.
He will assume an investment mentorship role as a member of the investment oversight group (IOG).
The context: Other changes at Platinum include:
- Co-CIO and Platinum International Fund (and global strategies) portfolio manager Clay Smolinski is stepping away from his roles and take a leave of absence for six months;
- Platinum ex-portfolio manager Jim Simpson and board member will take up the role of chair of the IOG; and
- Ted Alexander has been appointed as portfolio manager for the Platinum International Fund and the fund’s other global strategies. He is currently CIO at BML Funds.
The investment team changes will take effect from 3 March.
Platinum said Smolinski and the management team will determine whether he will return in an alternative role within the investment team by the end of his leave of absence.
The company also said that it was “on track” to deliver its $25 million in cost reductions, with expenses for the half-year to December 2024 down 18% from the prior corresponding period, and profit margin holding at 43%.
Platinum also announced that it was set to launch a new global equity small cap offering in April which would be managed by Boston-based GW&K Investment Management.
As part of the fund manager’s turnaround plan, it has finalised the design of its new long-term incentive plan where performance rights will be hurdled and subject to two measures linked to turnaround objectives — cumulative profit measure and an investment performance measure — along with a third shareholder-alignment measure being relative total shareholder return.
The company has also increased chief executive Jeff Peters' remuneration package to retain him until at least 30 June 2028 as he “is critical to the successful delivery of the turnaround”.
Changes to Peters' remuneration package included:
- His fixed remuneration has lifted $1.1 million (from $1 million);
- His maximum short-term incentive has increased to $1.32 million (from $1 million);
- His maximum long-term incentive has been decreased to $600,000 (from $700,000); and
- He will receive a one-off retention award in March 2025 of PTM deferred rights to the value of $1 million and rights linked to the performance of units in the Platinum Trust Funds (face value $750,000). Vesting of these rights will be subject to a continuous service condition to 30 June 2028 and meeting a profit margin hurdle.
In addition to the package, Peters is eligible to receive a payment of $330,000 on 30 June 2025 as a recognition of extra work arising out of significant deal activity.
In December 2024, Regal Partners ended its pursuit to takeover Platinum which triggered a 14% slide in Platinum's share price. Platinum's shares last closed at 75 cents and over the past five years has plunged 81.6%.
Platinum today also reported a 55% plunge in NPAT to $15.9 million and a 15% decrease in funds under management to $11.1 billion, over the half year to December 2024.
The sources: ASX announcement, ASX announcement
