Magellan chairman drops $100b ambitions as CEO departs
Magellan chairman Andrew Formica has ditched outgoing chief executive David George’s ambition to restore the investment manager’s assets to $100 billion as he searches for a replacement CEO to enact a turnaround.
Mr Formica, the 52-year old former co-chief executive of Janus Henderson, will step up as executive chairman after Mr George exited the top job at Magellan on Wednesday. Mr Formica has no intention of taking on the role as a permanent successor to Mr George.
New Magellan chairman Andrew Formica has taken the reigns as CEO on an interim basis. Louie Douvis
But the global equities manager will no longer be setting ambitious growth targets.
“Having a specific target, I don’t think it’s very healthy,” Mr Formica told The Australian Financial Review. “Our key priority actually has to be about delivering the investment performance and the client outcomes.”
Mr Formica was appointed to the Magellan board as chairman in August replacing Hamish McLennan who stepped into a non-executive director role.
He hinted that Magellan is open to making acquisitions and touted the firm’s balance sheet as a “real strength”. “One of the key aspects for us is building upon investment talent in the business, and some of that may come through buying small businesses, boutiques,” he said.
While Magellan is primarily a global and Australian equities manager, it owns stakes in Finclear and investment bank Barrenjoey in addition to sitting on a pile of cash and other investments. These account for more than two-thirds of its market capitalisation.
The highly credentialled Mr George joined Magellan in July 2022 from the Future Fund. Redemptions from clients soon reduced its funds under management to less than $40 billion.
Meanwhile, his base
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