Metrics Credit Partners suspends three ASX funds after audit triggers asset-value cuts

Australian private credit manager Metrics Credit Partners has suspended trading in three ASX-listed investment vehicles and reduced their reported asset values following changes requested during the funds’ audit process, according to a report by Reuters.

Metrics, which manages approximately AUD40bn ($28.1bn) in assets, halted trading in the Metrics Real Estate Multi-Strategy Fund, Metrics Income Opportunities Trust and Metrics Master Income Trust before the Australian market opened on Monday.

The firm said auditor KPMG had reached different conclusions from those used in the preliminary financial reports, particularly around certain inputs and probability weightings applied to the funds’ valuations.

As a result, the net tangible asset value of the Metrics Real Estate Multi-Strategy Fund was reduced by 12.16%, while the Metrics Income Opportunities Trust was marked down by 10.08%. The reduction for the Metrics Master Income Trust was 1.99%.

The largest adjustment affected the real estate-focused vehicle, whose net tangible asset value fell to AUD2.22 per unit from AUD2.53. Metrics said the majority of the reduction reflected a lower fair value assigned to unlisted commercial real estate equity investments. The fund’s most recent market price before the suspension was AUD1.68.

Metrics said the final audited valuations placed greater emphasis on downside scenarios and less favourable potential outcomes than the assumptions used in its preliminary reporting.

The audit also led to increased provisions for potential losses on loan exposures across all three listed funds. According to Metrics, those adjustments reflected factors including interest-rate and broader macroeconomic conditions, as well as heightened regulatory expectations applied to particular assets and the portfolios as a whole.