Link Market Services, the owner of Australian Administration Services, has commissioned a valuation of competitor member administrator Pillar Administration.
It is understood Link has engaged consultancy Bain & Company to assess Pillar’s value, potentially in advance of a pre-emptive offer to Pillar’s owner, the NSW Government. The valuation process appears to be relying on published accounts, because a source at Pillar said no consultants had visited its offices. A spokesman for NSW Treasurer, Michael Costa, said last week the Government had “;no plans”; to sell Pillar. The chief executive of Pillar’s largest client State Super, Don McLean, said he had received no indication of any kind that the administrator might be sold. He noted that rumours Pillar might be sold had surfaced before, typically just after State elections. Link managing director John McMurtrie was unavailable for comment at presstime. Last Thursday, Pillar formally took over from AAS as the administrator for the Axa-owned National Preservation Trust, an eligible rollover fund with 515,000 accounts.
The $34 billion Brighter Super is set to shift around $10 billion of assets from passive to active management. Chief investment officer Mark Rider says the move is possible because of scale created by mergers, and the fund will be looking to its newly appointed active managers to generate performance through the cycle by taking idiosyncratic risks.
Darcy SongJanuary 21, 2025
