Metrics puts hold on funds after shock $170 million writedown and KPMG audit delay
Metrics Credit Partners has stopped investors from accessing some of its funds and delayed the release of its audited financial reports for the portfolios.
The freeze at Metrics Credit Partners has spread beyond its three ASX-listed funds, with withdrawals from funds they invest in also suspended after KPMG missed Wednesday’s deadline to sign off the accounts.
It follows about $169 million being stripped from the reported value of the three listed funds on Monday — two of which have WA property exposure.
Perpetual, which oversees the funds, said redemptions of units in the underlying funds “have now been suspended temporarily”. New applications have also been stopped and it is no longer publishing their asset values for now.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Trading in the Metrics Master Income Trust, Metrics Income Opportunities Trust and Metrics Real Estate Multi-Strategy Fund remain on hold and will not resume until their audited accounts are lodged with the Australian Securities Exchange.
KPMG had been due to sign off the accounts by September 30 but told Metrics and Perpetual it could not meet the deadline.
Perpetual had expected KPMG to sign off the accounts without qualification on Wednesday. No new date was given.
The June 30 values were first published at the end of August with a warning they could change once KPMG finished its work.
Monday’s reassessment did just that after Metrics gave greater weight to “downside scenarios and less favourable potential outcomes”.
The biggest hit was to the Metrics Real Estate Multi-Strategy Fund, whose expected asset value fell 12.2 per cent to $2.22 per stapled unit.
The Metrics Income Opportunities Trust fell 10.1 per cent to $1.93, while the Metrics Master Income Trust slipped 2 per cent to $1.96.
Property investments accounted for almost all of the cut to the real estate fund.
Separately on Wednesday, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission warned: “Current conditions are testing private credit markets”, pointing to higher rates, slowing conditions in some industries and borrowers needing to refinance debt.
Residential construction was singled out as one area under pressure, with ASIC warning those conditions were testing private credit managers’ controls and “the veracity of valuations”.
Australia’s private credit market is worth about $200 billion, with the bulk of lending going to real estate.
Metrics says its wider group manages about $40 billion. It raises money from investors and lends it directly to companies and property developers outside the banking system, while also taking stakes in some projects.
The Income Opportunities Trust reported 9 per cent of its portfolio was tied to WA commercial property at June 30.
Metrics has also backed Perth developer Edge Visionary Living on The Dunes at Scarborough, a 223-apartment beachfront project. Nothing in the latest disclosures identifies The Dunes as a source of the valuation cuts.
A Metrics spokesperson did not immediately respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment.
Originally published as Metrics puts hold on funds after shock $170m writedown and KPMG audit delay
