FNZ has offloaded its troublesome Australian financial software subsidiary, GBST, under a sale and part-buyback agreement inked late last year with private equity firm, Anchorage Capital Partners.
The deal ends a two-year saga dating back to November 2019 when the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an enquiry into FNZ/GBST tie-up first cemented in July of the same year.
Following several rounds of consultation the CMA ultimately ruled a merger with GBST would unduly reduce competition in the UK platform market, requiring FNZ to divest the former ASX-listed software provider.
However, in a last-minute concession the UK competition regulator signaled it would allow FNZ to retain the GBST capital markets operations via a sale and buy-back agreement – an outcome realised in the Anchorage deal.
The Australian-based Anchorage will keep the GBST wealth management arm – including the flagship software, Composer – while returning the group’s capital markets division to FNZ control in the first quarter of this year.
In a statement, FNZ says the agreement would give it access to the “experienced GBST capital markets team and the market leading Syn~ product suite, which provides proven, seamless and scalable real-time trade and settlements processing capabilities at a global level”.
“This will provide FNZ with the opportunity to expand its product and service offering to both existing and future clients and accelerate the growth and reach of its global capabilities in listed securities trading and post-trade processing,” the release says.
Meanwhile, Anchorage managing director and incoming GBST chair, said the firm was “committed to further investment supporting GBST management’s long-term growth plans and future pipeline of opportunities in the UK and Australia for its market leading wealth management administration platform and services”.
“We are impressed with the quality and commitment of GBST’s management team and employees, its market leading technology, and its long-standing relationships with clients and suppliers,” Cave said in a release.
According to the statement, GBST services over 5.5 million underlying investors including direct-to-consumer, advised and employer-based clients.
Launched almost 20 years ago in Wellington, FNZ has now grown to more than US$1.5 trillion in assets under administration held on behalf of 15 million plus investors channeled through over 150 financial institutions.
FNZ has also been in acquisitive mode of late with late 2021 purchase including: the Swiss financial services digital solutions firm, Appway; the German trading and custody platform, Fondsdepot Bank; and, the Wellington-based US stock-trading service, Hatch – purchased from Kiwi Wealth for a figure understood to be in excess of NZ$40 million.