Wayne Davey, the current chief executive of Quadrant, has been chosen to lead the merged operations of Tasplan and Quadrant super funds from November 2015.
The new board will be chaired by Naomi Edwards, the current chair of Tasplan, while the current chief executive of Tasplan, Neil Cassidy will retire on that date.
Four current Quadrant trustee directors Nick Heath, Frank Barta, Alan Garcia and Mike Tidey will join the Tasplan board. Current Tasplan trustees who will join the newly merged board include Tracy Matthews, Ron Ward, Anthony Stacey, Angela Briant, Paul Griffin and Roslyn Madsen.
Trade union member Steve Walsh and employer representative Barry Mcdonald will step down to become alternate directors of the fund.
The merger of the two funds has been given the go-ahead this week and will create a unified Tasmanian fund with $3 billion of assets, 110,000 members, 15,000 employers and nine investment options. The merged operations will be called Tasplan.
There will be nine investment options, five of these will see similar investment options of Tasplan and Quadrant merged, while four separate Quadrant options will be offered to all members. The fund will transfer member’s accounts to the investment option that most closely matches their current option.
Mark Williams will be the investment manager for the combined operation which will use Mercer as its consultant. There are no current plans to hire a chief investment officer.
Naomi Edwards, chair of Tasplan, said that a year was being given to merge the operations to ensure success. She added that the unconditional agreement of merger would strengthen the fund’s discussions with the Tasmanian state treasurer in its negotiations to be considered as the preferred merger partner with the government employee fund, the Retirement Benefits Fund.
The merger is partly being sold to members as a means of keeping jobs and superannuation expertise within Tasmania. Under the terms of the agreed merger, the administration of the benefits will shift to the Quadrant in-house administration system.
In an announcement from Quadrant, members are also promised that the merger will help keep costs down in the long run and introduce new benefits.
“In a nutshell, the merger means we can continuously provide you with better products, more competitive fees – as well as the excellent service levels you are used to,” reads the statement.
The merger will formerly complete in November 2015 when Quadrant accounts will shift across to the merged operation.
