Associated Planners sells division
Associated Planners Group has sold 75 per cent of Associated Planners Manage-ment, the holding vehicle for the Strategic Super master trust.
Associated Planners Group has sold 75 per cent of Associated Planners Manage-ment, the holding vehicle for the Strategic Super master trust.
A consortium of investors including Zurich Australia, former FAI chief Rodney Adler and Rainmaker’s James Burkitt has bought 75 per cent of the master trust business which has more than $300 million under management.
Under the terms of the deal, Associated Planners Group will sell down their 47 per cent stake in business to 25 per cent. The remaining 53 per cent of the group was previously owned by independent investors who have all sold their individual stakes to the consortium.
Associated Planners Management director John Caulfield says the sale of the ma-jority stake in the business is designed to provide a boost in investment on technol-ogy, branding and service upgrades for the master trust.
“About a year ago we had a look at where we saw the master trust business further down the track,” he says.
“We realised that if we wanted to continue profitably growing the business, we would need a substantial cash injection. We decided to look for a suitable partner to provide the necessary capital to accelerate the growth of the business.”
After discussions with a number of suitors, Associated Planners decided on the consortium named International Master Fund Management (IMFM). Other mem-bers of the consortium include Peter Dorrian, Eugene Kopp’s Bluscan Investments and Mike Fitzpatrick’s Zebpland.
Caulfield says the capital injection will be used to fund technology investments, upgrade ecommerce capabilities, boost marketing spend and hunt for acquisition opportunities.
“We are not talking with anyone at the moment. However, there is sure to be a marked consolidation of the master trust market over the next few years and we are in an ideal position to capitalise on the opportunities,” he says.
All 38 staff at the master trust will stay with the new business and advisers using the master trust have all been assured it is business as usual.
“One of the important considerations in the sale of the business was that the pur-chasers would not be a large institutional investor who would simply fold the busi-ness into their existing master trust,” he says.
“We plan to grow the business by 500 per cent over the next three years and we believed an independent owner was the only way to achieve that ambitious aim.”
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