Joint venture targets registry market
Perpetual Registrars is to team up with the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in a joint venture, ASX Perpetual Registrars Limited (APRL), in a bid to increase market share as a provider of registry and related services.
Perpetual Registrars is to team up with the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in a joint venture, ASX Perpetual Registrars Limited (APRL), in a bid to increase market share as a provider of registry and related services.
Both parties will have a 50 per cent interest in the new entity, with the ASX investing $50 million for their interest in the venture. This is quite a win for Perpetual, which purchased the entire group from Coopers & Lybrand for $59 mil-lion less than two years ago.
APRL will initially service listed securities within the $125 million local reg-istry market, with plans to grow existing and new markets, including overseas.
The move will position APRL as second behind Computershare in market share, with 35 per cent share of the market compared to Computershare's 55 per cent.
"This now places us on a direct competitive course with Computershare, who I be-lieve were surprised at the announcement this morning," says ASX managing direc-tor Richard Humphry.
Perpetual Trustees managing director Graham Bradley says the venture met Perpet-ual's need to upgrade its systems to compete more effectively, with the joint venture likely to demand major investment in the technology area.
Any funds used as part of the technology spending would come from existing cash flow, which Bradley says is predicted to be $48 million for 1999/2000.
APRL will have a six member board, with three representatives from each company. The position of chairman will rotate between the two companies every 12 months. Humphry and Bradley will be on the board with Bradley taking on the role as APRL's first chairman.
Perpetual Registrars group executive Richard Atkinson will become chief execu-tive of APRL when the venture formally commences on May 1 this year, subject to the completion of due diligence and the regulatory approvals.
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
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