Pinnacle Investment Management (Pinnacle) is an Australian investment management company. It is publicly traded on the Australian Securities Exchange and is a constituent member of the S&P/ASX 200 and S&P/ASX 300 indices. The company takes stakes in other investment management firms as affiliates and offers them administrative support and other services.
Background
The origins of Pinnacle can be traced to Wilson HTM Investment Group (Wilson HTM), an Australian stockbroker and later investment management firm that was established in 1895.[2]
In the early 1990s, Steven Wilson the then-Chairman and CEO of Wilson HTM visited New York and noticed that on the trading floor of a large US investment bank, the bulk of markets trading was for its own account, and often occurred against positions held by customers. Before proprietary trading was banned, Wilson already observed a challenged model. As a result, Wilson made the decision to move the company into investment management and in 1996 established Hyperion Asset Management under it.[3]
In 2006, Wilson HTM established Pinnacle as an multi-affiliate investment manager under it. According to Wilson this was done to separate the brokerage business from the fund managers who would operate better at arm's length with the maximum ownership of them being 50%. Initially, two affiliates under Wilson HTM were transferred to Pinnacle. They were Hyperion Asset Management led by Emmanuel Clive Pohl and Plato Investment Management led by Don Hamson. Wilson hired former Queensland Treasury official Ian Macoun who had served as the inaugural CEO of Queensland Investment Corporation to run Pinnacle.[3][4][5]
In 2007, Wilson HTM held its initial public offering and became a listed company on the Australia Stock Exchange. The offering raised A$25 million. The majority of proceeds were to be used seed new investment managers that would become affiliates of Pinnacle.[2][3]
In 2015, Wilson HTM decided to focus on investment management and spun-off its stockbroking business via a management buyout.[3][7]
In 2016, Wilson HTM acquired the remaining 25% stake in Pinnacle it did not own giving it complete control. Then Wilson HTM was rebranded to Pinnacle its stock ticker was changed. Macoun who was now in charge of the company negotiated deals and invested his own cash to replace the legacy shareholders and rid the company of some legacy payments to management and directors.[5][7]
in February 2024, it was reported that Pinnacle reached a milestone of having A$100 billion in assets under management. At this point in time, Pinnacle had 15 affiliates under it.[8]
