Australian Wealth Management (AUW) will pay between $25 million and $35 million to acquire the i.super and Finium corporate superannuation businesses from Zurich Financial Services.
The acquisition is subject to due diligence and approvals, including from Finium’s minority shareholder, dealer group Genesys Wealth Advisers. A complication in the due diligence will be a unit pricing error recently discovered across 10 multimanager options in the Finium plan. A Zurich spokesperson refused to comment on the size of the errors, but they are known to relate to the period between September 1, 2006 and January 9, 2007. Finium members are currently suffering processing delays as the manager determines compensation for affected members, which will be paid in the form of additional units credited to accounts. If the acquisition proceeds, the i.super and Finium master trusts will be folded into AUW’s Spectrum Super Plan, increasing its size by $1.1 billion and 40,000 members to $3.5 billion and 150,000 members. I.Super’s investment options are advised by van Eyk, and Finium’s by Watson Wyatt. Spectrum is also advised by van Eyk. AUW managing director, Chris Kelaher, said AUW and its forerunner, Select Managed Funds, had a long track record of consolidating super funds profitably. “;The acquisition also signals the start of a formative relationship with both Zurich and Genesys which could well expand beyond corporate super,”; he said.
Since taking over the top job at the $44 billion Funds SA more than a year ago, chief executive John Piteo has ushered in an investment function overhaul and wrapped up an important stage of the fund’s five-year data transformation program. It pledges to recentre around investment performance and more efficient processes, as the “missing piece” has been found in incoming CIO Con Michalakis.
Darcy SongJanuary 10, 2025
