Perpetual is an Australian

investment fund An investment fund is a way of investment, investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These ad ...

and trustee group in the

S&P/ASX 200 The S&P/ASX 200 (XJO) index is a market-capitalisation weighted and float-adjusted stock market index of stocks listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. The index is maintained by Standard & Poor's and is considered the benchmark for A ...

. The company provides investment products, financial advice, philanthropic and corporate services to individuals, families, financial advisers and organisations.

History

Perpetual was conceived in 1885 by a committee of business professionals with the purpose of forming a

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...

company. The committee included

Edmund Barton Sir Edmund "Toby" Barton (18 January 18497 January 1920) was an Australian politician, barrister and jurist who served as the first prime minister of Australia from 1901 to 1903. He held office as the leader of the Protectionist Party, before ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

's 1st

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, managing director John Street of the

Street family The Street family is an Australian family, founded by the politician John Rendell Street, John Street and his wife Susanna, the daughter of Australian explorer Commandant William Lawson (explorer), William Lawson. Their son Philip Whistler Stree ...

and chairman

James Fairfax James Oswald Fairfax (27 March 1933 – 11 January 2017) was an Australian company director, philanthropist, and a member of the Fairfax family, an Australian family prominent in the newspaper publisher industry. Biography Fairfax was born in ...

of the

Fairfax family Members of the Fairfax Family were prominent as Australian media proprietors, especially in the area of newspaper publishing through the company John Fairfax and Sons (later known as Fairfax Media, although the Fairfax family no long ...

. The Perpetual Trustee Company (Limited) was officially formed in 1886, originally based at 105 Pitt Street Sydney. John Pewtress, an accountant, became the first employee. In 1888, a special act was granted to Perpetual (the power) to act as a corporate executor and trustee by the

NSW Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

. An increasing number of prominent citizens appointed Perpetual as executor or trustee of their estates – in many cases for generations. Perpetual continued to develop a strong and secure reputation throughout the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

The Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank an ...

. At that time, Perpetual Trustee Company controlled trust estates to the value of £50,000,000, making it easily Australia's largest trustee company. In 1935 all staff were required to sign an ‘Obligation of Secrecy’ book, a practice that continued until 1988. In 1963, The Perpetual Executors & Trustees Association of Australia Ltd (Victoria) and Queensland Trustees Ltd, which had operated in their own states since the 1880s, merged with Perpetual Trustee Company Ltd (NSW). In 1964 Perpetual listed its shares on the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary Exchange (organized market), securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or c ...

and this continues today. During the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s (decade), Perpetual expanded beyond its traditional trustee business into the rapidly developing funds management industry. This included

superannuation A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a "Defined benefit pension pla ...

, financial advice, and corporate trustee and

securitisation Securitization is the financial practice of pooling various types of contractual debt such as residential mortgages, commercial mortgages, auto loans, or credit card debt obligations (or other non-debt assets which generate receivables) and sellin ...

services. In 2020, Perpetual expanded globally by acquiring two specialist asset management firms; Barrow Hanley Global Investors, a leader in global value investing, and Trillium Asset Management, an industry pioneer in environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing and shareholder advocacy. In April 2022 Perpetual launched a

takeover offer In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast to the acquisi ...

for Pendal Group. Pendal Group's shareholders accepted the offer in December 2022 with the transaction to taking effect in January 2023. In 2024,

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total ...

was in negotiations to acquire Perpetual's wealth management and corporate trust units for

AUD The Australian dollar ( sign: $; code: AUD; also abbreviated A$ or sometimes AU$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; and also referred to as the dollar or Aussie dollar) is the official currency and legal tender of Au ...

$2.2 billion. These talks were terminated in February 2024.

References

External links

Perpetual Main Site
{{Authority control Financial services companies based in Sydney Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Financial services companies established in 1886 1886 establishments in Australia Asset management companies

History

See also

References

External links