Ellerston to shutter another Morphic fund

Morphic Asset Management has advised the Morphic Ethical Equities Fund, and the ASX, of its intention to terminate the investment management agreement.

Morphic AM was integrated into Ellerston Capital in 2019 and has been the investment manager of the fund since March 2017.

The fund told the ASX it was "considering the appropriate corporate actions following receipt of the notice of intention to terminate", with further updates to be provided to the market.

Under the agreement, termination by the manager requires six months' written notice, during which Morphic will continue to perform its obligations.

In its August 2026 monthly performance report, the fund had returned -3.7% versus the MSCI All Countries World Daily Return Net Index which returned 0.6% over the same period.

In 2021 Ellerston Capital terminated the Morphic Global Opportunities Fund as a result of dwindling funds under management.

Ellerston acquired a controlling stake in Morphic Asset Management in June 2019, with Morphic becoming a subsidiary of Ellerston.

According to Ellerston, the Morphic Ethical Equities Fund was the only remaining Morphic Asset Management fund under its umbrella.

The Morphic Ethical Equities Fund excluded direct investments in entities involved in environmental destruction, including coal and uranium mining, oil and gas, intensive animal farming and aquaculture, tobacco and alcohol, armaments, gambling and rainforest and old growth logging.

It also donated 2.5% of management fees Bush Heritage.