As we reflect on 2024, it’s clear that this year brought both challenges and opportunities. Global inflation eased, offering pockets of stability, yet uncertainty lingered as elections reshaped policy landscapes across major regions. Meanwhile, persistent geopolitical tensions—especially conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine—reminded us of the fragile interconnectedness of our world. Despite these complexities, Aura Group remained heads down in our mission, to drive meaningful progress for our investors, team, and portfolio.
A Growing Team Committed to Excellence
Our team expanded to 60 members, with 29 investment professionals bringing unmatched expertise to drive excellence across every facet of our business. We bolstered our distribution capabilities with the senior hire of Dan Annan as our new Distribution Director, ensuring we continue to provide exceptional service and strategic opportunities to our investors whilst establishing and strengthening distribution partnerships through Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.
Our Family Office and Private Wealth team nearly doubled in size, expanding from five to nine advisers. This growth allows us to deepen our relationships with families and private clients, delivering tailored solutions to safeguard and grow their wealth over generations.
Exceptional Performance Across Strategies
Our flagship Aura Private Credit Strategy approached its seventh year of outstanding performance. This achievement was once again recognised at the HFM Performance Awards, where the fund earned the prestigious Fixed Income Fund of the Year title for the third consecutive year.
The Aura Global Endowment Strategy continues to gain traction, achieving a 23-month track record, further solidifying its position as a core liquid offering in our portfolio.
Value Creation in Private Markets
Our Private Equity and Venture Capital teams celebrated major milestones, including the successful exits of Lannock and the sale of Integrated Portfolio Solutions to Dash Technologies, generating crucial distributions for our investors. These exits underscore our ability to deliver value, even in a volatile environment.
Capitalising on softer private markets, we welcomed several transformative businesses into the Aura ecosystem, including RockMedical, PowerCred, Techcoop, JigSpace, CarNow, Charge+, Dash Technologies, Tixel and Scannable. These additions exemplify our commitment to identifying and nurturing transformative businesses that create lasting impact.
Advancing Strategic Initiatives
Our SPAC, Aura FAT Projects Acquisition Corp, is making significant progress toward completing its business combination with Allrites, buoyed by a successful capital raise led by OSK-SBI.
We also forged a new partnership with XT Ventures, a venture firm focussed on sports and health led by Craig Lambert and chaired by James Warburton, further enhancing our reach into innovative sectors.
Delivering Value to Investors
We remained focused on capital returns and distributions, recycling over $95 million to investors in the past 12 months. This commitment to liquidity and value creation continues to build trust with our partners and stakeholders.
Strategic Refinement at Aura Group
This year also marked significant strategic refinement at the Group level. We divested Aura Partners Australia to our operating partners, sharpening our focus on core areas of growth and innovation. Additionally, we completed the exit of Spark Financial Group in a philanthropic act, aligning with our commitment to community impact. In the same vein we completed our first reporting as a signatory to the Principles of Responsible Investing (PRI).
Looking Ahead to 2025
As we close the chapter on 2024, we do so with immense gratitude for our investors, founders, staff, shareholders, and advisors who have been unwavering in their support. The challenges of this year have reinforced our belief in the importance of resilience, patience, and a long-term perspective.
We are excited to continue bringing you innovative and sustainable ways to grow and protect wealth as we look to 2025. On behalf of the entire Aura Group team, we wish you a joyful festive season and a prosperous New Year!
Until next time,
Calvin Ng
Managing Director
