Mainstream BPO into super with Group Benefits purchase

Funds management administrator Mainstream BPO has diversified into superannuation with the acquisition of Group Benefits.

Group Benefits, a Melbourne-based administrator of small industry funds, corporate funds and master trusts, was established in the 1990s by a group of former executives of The Australian Superannuation Group, which was split up and sold to Aon Consulting and others. Group Benefits’ largest client is the Combined Fund, which has more than 10,000 members among independent schools teachers. Greg Taylor, the Group Benefits chief executive and former shareholder, along with some other working shareholders, will stay with the firm after the acquisition by Mainstream BPO. Apart from diversifying its offering and client base away from funds managers, Group Benefits will also give the Sydney-based Mainstream BPO a Melbourne presence. Byram Johnston, the Mainstream BPO chief executive, said he would be putting some of the Mainstream IT people in Melbourne and was also hopeful of expanding the super admin business into the SMSF field. Group Benefits admin runs on Financial Synergy software, while the Mainstream funds business uses DST International systems. The two would be kept separate, Johnston said. Mainstream BPO has added on average one new client fund per month since it launched early last year, currently administering 16 funds for manager clients. Johnston said: “We believe there are very strong synergies between a superannuation administration provider and a provider of fund administration. We predict that the superannuation area of the market has exciting growth potential and the acquisition allows us to bring our expertise into a new market.” He also said that Mainstream BPO was still pursuing opportunities in the mortgage administration area, something which the firm flagged a few months ago.