When Money Management was under Madden

When Iwas handed the job of editingMoney Managementin the early days of 1995, the then publisher David Koch joked about my appointment to dozens of industry luminaries with the kind words “he’d better not f**k it up!”

David’s astute foresight was rewarded 18 months later when a strong and vibrantMoney Management— complete with a New Zealand edition launched a month after I took on the job — was sold to its current owners, Reed Business Information, for a tidy sum.

The sale not only reflected the quality of our staff, but the value the market placed in a masthead that had forged a strong reputation as a specialist trade newspaper since 1987.

I remained as editor ofMoneyManagementuntil June 1999, my tenure spanning a dynamic period of merger and acquisition activity for the financial planning and funds management industries.

It was the beginning of a fairly dramatic rationalisation phase that has since culminated in just a handful of institutions dominating the financial planning space.

Money Managementloved a scoop. In June, 1995, we had a reliable tip-off that John Blewitt’s Le Fort business was primed for sale, probably to Mercantile Mutual. It was a Friday, the news deadline day forMoney Management, and we were keen to snare the story.

We had already successfully scooped on the merger of Godfrey and Pembroke, so the sell-off of Le Fort (the parent company of RetireInvest) was right up our alley.

After many phone calls late into that Friday afternoon, and with the sub-editors baying for copy, we were forced to concede defeat. This, after speaking at length with Le Fort chairman John Blewitt, who categorically denied even a sniff of a sale, informing us thatMoney Managementwas barking up the wrong tree — Le Fort was an acquirer not a seller, we were wrong, where do we get our (mis)information and so on.

Just the following Wednesday, June 18, 1995, theAustralianFinancial Reviewran the story of Mercantile Mutual’s $35 million acquisition bid for Le Fort.

I later heard an unconfirmed report that two bidders occupied separate offices in Le Fort’s Barrack Street offices in Sydney, the same Friday thatMoney Managementwas chasing the story, with negotiators moving between the buyers to secure the best price.

That sale sparked a round of acquisitions and part buys of distribution businesses by institutions over the remainder of the 90s, and spawned the industry debate and wider media interest in the topic of independence in financial planning. It was the precursor to a run of acquisitions with names like Bleakleys, Financial Wisdom, Advisor Group and Sealcorp at the centre of the trend.

During this time,Money Managementfound itself covering the growing pains of a financial planning industry struggling to be recognised as a profession.

We reported on the machinations and debate raging within the Financial Planning Association (FPA). The late Jock Rankin had given the fledgling FPA a voice. But, its executive had perennial difficulty finding consensus on how best to use that voice.

Factional in-fighting, involving big dealer versus small dealer versus practitioner interests, kept the front page lively and enhanced the wider industry debate.

This was the key toMoneyManagement— accurate, incisive reporting of news and a forum for the financial planning and funds industry to air its concerns, issues and debates.

For us it meant long, hard hours covering a hectic, sometimes dramatic period that was never dull, always challenging and ultimately a fun and rewarding experience.

Bruce Madden was editor from1995-1999 and is now the editor of Asset magazine.