Bridges on the market, Scully leaves

Bridges Financial Services is up for sale.

Chief executive officer Colin Scully who stepped down from his role with Bridges on June 30 says that he made the sell recommendation to the board after a review of the group’s owner, Credit Union Services Corporation (Australia) Limited (CUSCAL).

Bridges Financial Services is up for sale.

Chief executive officer Colin Scully who stepped down from his role with Bridges on June 30 says that he made the sell recommendation to the board after a review of the group’s owner, Credit Union Services Corporation (Australia) Limited (CUSCAL).

Scully says the review revealed that Bridges needs to form a strategic alliance with a major financial organisation in order to handle significant growth.

“CUSCAL realised that with 200 credit unions under them, they couldn’t provide everything,” says Scully. “They recognised that we need expert help to maintain the standard of financial services we offer and to grow the client base to its full potential.”

The price tag attached to Bridges is likely to be “much, much more” than the $150 million recently quoted in the press, according to Scully and while AMP, Merrill Lynch and AXA Asia Pacific will not confirm strong rumours that they will be bidding for the group, Mercantile Mutual has openly expressed interest.

A report in the Australian Financial Review says that Mercantile Mutual’s parent, the ING Group regards Australia as a strategic market and is committed to growing distribution, life insurance and funds under management. The purchase of Bridges would give Mercantile Mutual access to customers, assets under management and distribution and would make the group one of the top three players in the Australian funds management industry.

“We’ve had a huge number of contenders throw their hats into the ring,” says Scully. “However, we actually went through our own selection process and looked at which organisations we would feel more comfortable with. What we will say is that CUSCAL is not interested in developing a strategic partnership with a competitor.”

At $150 million plus, Bridges will sell for around four times the $40.6 million MLC paid for Godfrey Pembroke last year. AMP made a $34.6 million bid for Godfrey Pembroke, but ultimately lost out to MLC who paid $40.6 million.

Scully and partners Bob Mitchell and Don Sharpe in conjunction with Bridges Son & Shepherd (Stockbrokers) Limited, established Bridges in 1985. CUSCAL bought the stockbrokers’ 50 per cent interest in 1988 and the remaining 50 per cent interest from Scully and Sharpe in 1998.

Bridges Financial Services has a total of 115 financial planners nationwide servicing 45,000 clients. It holds $2.5 billion funds under management and an additional $2 billion under advice.