Ninety One boasts R3 trillion in assets under management

Asset manager Ninety One released its quarterly AUM update for Q4 2024 today, which revealed that it had £126 billion (R2.98 trillion) in assets under management (AUM).

This is lower than the £129.3 billion in AUM on 31 March 2023 but higher than the £124.2 billion in AUM on 31 December 2023.

While this is the highest it has been since Q4 2023, it is still a noticeable decline from Q4 2022, when Ninety One had £143.9 billion in AUM.

Ninety One was formed as Investec Asset Management in 1991. It changed its name to Ninety One in 2020, the same year it was demerged from Investec. 

The firm has 22 offices across 15 countries and is listed on both the Johannesburg and London Stock Exchanges. 

Ninety One reported R254 billion net outflows in its 2023 financial year. The firm attributed this to an increase in risk-averse investors looking for safety and liquidity during market volatility.

“Investors went for safe havens. They didn’t come to us. In the second half of the year, we were not that much in demand regarding what we were selling,” CEO Hendrik du Toit told News24 at the time.

Ninety One’s AUM suffered due to rising inflation, interest rate hikes, geopolitical uncertainty, bank failures, and energy shortages worldwide.

This trend continued in the firm’s 2024 financial year, where its AUM reached a low of £123.1 billion (R2.92 trillion). However, it bounced back over the last three months to reach £126 billion.

A 2023 PwC survey found that asset managers worldwide are facing significant headwinds, and one in six asset and wealth management companies will be swallowed up or fall by the wayside in the next five years.

PwC found that these firms are currently facing the greatest AUM decline in a decade, as global assets under management fell to $115.1 trillion in 2022 – nearly 10% below the 2021 high of $127.5 trillion.

The survey identified inflation, market volatility, and interest rate movements as the biggest concerns for investors and asset managers over the next 12 to 24 months. 

It said nearly three-quarters (73%) of asset managers are considering a strategic consolidation with another asset manager.

According to PwC, the top ten largest asset managers could control around half of mutual fund assets globally by 2027, up from 42.5% in 2020, with private markets to account for up to half of AWM revenues by 2027, up from 37.6% in 2020.

Below is an overview of Ninety One’s AUM over the past two years.