L1 Gold IPO lifts quarterly FUM to $19bn

The near-$1 billion initial public offering of L1 Group’s gold fund pushed the fund manager’s total assets under management to $19 billion, according to its latest quarterly update.

L1 raised $950 million in April for its Gold Fund, a listed investment company that runs an actively managed portfolio of international gold securities and opportunistic precious metals bets.

Quarterly FUM jumps 12 percent

Total funds under management hit $19.1 billion as of June 30, up from $16.9 billion in March — a 12.4 percent gain. The firm’s Long Short strategies alone grew 15 percent, from $7.6 billion to $8.8 billion.

Investment performance recovered markedly from March, when volatility tied to the Iran conflict hit returns. The earlier IPO contributed $428 million in net inflows, while inflows into L1 Long Short strategies and L1 Affiliates were also positive.

Net outflows from Platinum strategies, including Platinum International, totaled $308 million, unchanged from the prior quarter. Still, Platinum’s FUM rose from $3.1 billion to $3.3 billion, helped by market performance. In the previous quarter, the firm had described those outflows as a “material slowdown” from 2025 levels.

Performance fees and one-off costs ahead

Looking to full-year results due in August, the manager forecast performance fees for the 12 months to June 2026 at $162 million to $167 million, driven mostly by “exceptional performance” in the L1 Capital Catalyst fund and gains in the L1 Global Opportunities fund.

The company also expects to incur $33 million to $36 million in after-tax one-off costs in the second half of FY26, largely tied to the Platinum integration and the gold fund IPO.

That merger with Platinum Investment Management closed last October, creating a $17.6 billion fund manager led by chief executive Julian Russell, who replaced Jeff Peters. The combined group offers exposure to listed equities, alternative strategies, and a broader client base — a shift that now appears to be paying off in scale, if not yet in complete flow stability.

Platinum’s outflows have persisted, but the overall FUM growth suggests the broader portfolio is absorbing the drag. The gold fund IPO alone added nearly half a billion in fresh money, and the Long Short strategies kept pulling in net inflows even as volatility eased. With the full-year numbers due in August, the $162-167 million performance fee estimate signals that the fund managers at L1 Capital Catalyst and Global Opportunities delivered strong returns during the period.

The one-off costs tied to the Platinum merger and the gold listing will hit the bottom line this half, but the firm is betting the integration pays off over time.