Onex Corp.’s private equity investments gained 5 per cent in the fourth quarter last year but profit dipped as returns from asset management declined.
Onex ONEX-T reported profit of US$373-million, or US$4.81 per share, in the three months that ended Dec. 31. That compared with US$435-million, or US$5.32 per share, in the same quarter in 2022.
For the full year in 2023, profit was US$529-million, up from US$235-milion a year earlier.
The Toronto-based private equity firm’s investing capital increased to US$8.4-billion, or US$107.82 per share – up 4 per cent in the quarter and 11 per cent over the past year.
But its assets under management that generate fees fell to US$33.7-billion, from US$34.2-billion three months earlier. Clients have been withdrawing funds from Onex’s private wealth division, which it chose to wind down last year. Onex offset some of that decline by attracting new fee-generating assets to its collateralized loan obligation business, which allows clients to invest in pools of debt.
Onex has been in a turnaround phase under chief executive officer Bobby Le Blanc, who was appointed CEO last year after founder Gerry Schwartz stepped down, but stayed on as board chair.
Mr. Le Blanc has focused on selling select assets to return cash to investors, cutting costs and making new private equity investments. After he paused fundraising on its latest flagship private equity fund, he set new targets for the company, tempering investors’ expectations in the near term.
Onex’s private equity investments gained US$250-million in the fourth quarter, while its investments in credit were up US$67-million, or 8 per cent.
Distributable earnings, which are a metric used to show the share of company profits that could be paid out to shareholders, were US$139-million in the quarter, up from US$67-million a year earlier.
On Thursday, Onex announced a first-quarter dividend of 10 cents per share, unchanged from the previous quarter.
