The Wellington-based wholesale boutique founded by former Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) chief investment officer, Nicholas Bagnall, has selected MMC as a key back-office provider.
Following an almost nine-month transition period, Bagnall’s Te Ahumairangi Investment Management (TAIM) has now formally taken over the now $1.8 billion ACC global equities portfolio with MMC providing funds administration services.
In a release last week, Bagnall said MMC was the “team that we could trust” in transitioning the ACC portfolio.
“We were also keen to work with a business that we could partner with for the longer term, guiding us from an operational perspective not only as we took over the ACC portfolio but also as we look to grow our client base in the future,” he said in the statement. “Our dealings with the team at MMC have been outstanding – they have been very responsive and we are really appreciative of the effort and support they have provided over the last few months.”
TAIM has a 12-month exclusive contract with ACC dating from now before it can tout for other business. Bagnall left the approximately $45 billion ACC fund last November with an agreement to take over its then $1.6 billion in-house global equities portfolio once TAIM operations were ready.
Mercer Sentinel has been assessing TAIM as part of the ACC manager due diligence.
Vedran Babic, MMC chief, said in the release that the Auckland fund administrator had “worked together with Nicholas to shape our service offering to seamlessly integrate” with the TAIM business.
“We are pleased to have been able to help another new entrant into the New Zealand market and provide them with the necessary infrastructure to accelerate their success,” Babic said.
MMC now has more than $83 billion in funds under administration on behalf of over 100 clients including its recent acquisition, the Aegis investment platform.
In other late-breaking news last week, NZ broking house – and now Australian investment bank – Jarden announced a split with long-term ‘strategic partner’, Credit Suisse Australia.
Jarden entered the Australian investment banking market in May with an aggressive round of hires from incumbents including UBS, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse.
Just prior to the divorce, Euromoney reported that Jarden had already lured a former Credit Suisse client, HomeCo, in a joint A$140 million equity raising with Goldman Sachs.
Sarah Rennie, one of the Jarden Australia new recruits told Euromoney: “[Jarden] has been on a growth and acquisition path over the past five years in New Zealand.
“With Australia and New Zealand’s capital markets becoming increasingly synchronized, Jarden has for some time been looking at growth opportunities in the Australian market… to take advantage of changes in the industry to establish a position of strength in Australia’s capital markets.”
Credit Suisse and Jarden said in a joint release they had ended their 30-year relationship “given the evolving strategic priorities of both firms”.
“There will be an orderly transition over the coming months,” the release says.
