Christopher Kelaher, managing director of IOOF Holdings Ltd., says superannuation funds could view their businesses as mutual companies and may be tempted to realise their value.

“They are substantial animals that could take on the persona of a mutual company,” he says. “Industry Funds Management has offices around the world that have inherent value. They could at some stage say, “hey, we have inherent value here.’”

Kelaher is confident IOOF will acquire investment advisers DKN Financial Group Ltd. IOOF helped establish DKN eight years ago and have a 20 per cent stake.

“Now is the right time to acquire DKN as there is a focus on costs and scale,” he says. “There are synergies we can bring.”

Last week, when IOOF said its underlying net profit rose 15 per cent to $111.5 million in the year to June 30, Kelaher says he is “still spending time defusing myths” informing people that IOOF more money than Perpetual.

IOOF managed $106.2 billion as of June 30 through net inflows of $650 million over the year.  Perpetual manages $27.2 billion.

Kelaher says he doesn’t pay close attention to IOOF’s stock price

“I try not to,” he says. “There is nothing we can do.”