OneVue, the merged entity comprising unit registrar Petafin and managed account provider Direct Portfolio, has bought a 10 per cent stake in Australian Portfolio Administrators (a subsidiary of APA Financial Services) and provided $3 million to develop and integrate its SMA platform, which OneVue claims will enable it to service asset classes not presently automated by any SMA in Australia.

OneVue’s head of client focus, Chris Sperber, said plenty of front-end systems were able to deal with direct equities and managed funds, but advisers had complained to him about still needing to manually account for asset classes which are staples for many private clients, such as infrastructure bonds, agribusiness and inherited assets.

Sperber said the strategic attractiveness of the deal, in terms of the enhanced functionality and addition of funds under administration, was compounded by its tactical attractiveness. “APA is a small, listed technology company and that’s not the best place to be at the moment,” he said.