Fisher Funds is to rename its Kiwi Wealth products as… Fisher Funds funds.
In a note to clients last week, the Takapuna-based manager confirmed the approximately $6.5 billion Kiwi Wealth KiwiSaver scheme will be relabelled as the Fisher Funds KiwiSaver Plan (FFKP) as of March 6.
The well-flagged rebrand will see the manager hosting three schemes under the Fisher banner with FFKP joining Fisher Funds and Fisher Funds Two in the KiwiSaver listings.
Confusing? Maybe. But the renaming ceremony is likely prelude to some kind of consolidation among the Fisher blended family of funds.
Former Fisher chief, Bruce McLachlan, said last year it was “self-evident we can’t run three KiwiSaver schemes and two sets of retail funds”.
However, fully merging the Kiwi Wealth and Fisher product ranges will involve a complex back-office makeover with multiple administration and custody arrangements currently in place.
For instance, Fisher uses Trustees Executors for custody, administration and as supervisor while Kiwi Wealth has Apex (formerly MMC) as fund administrator, JBWere for custody with Public Trust as supervisor.
McLachlan retired last month after seven years helming the now $23 billion plus manager with ex National politician and Westpac wealth executive, Simon Power, stepping into the role.
It is understood Power was also a contender for the still-vacant NZ Superannuation Fund chief executive job.
Fisher still had almost a year to run on its two-year rights to use the Kiwi Wealth brand after buying the former government-owned investment firm for $310 million late in 2022.
The March 6 name-change deadline also applies to smaller ($300 million) suite of Kiwi Wealth retail managed funds, which assume the mantle of Fisher Funds Investment Funds from that date.
According to the new Kiwi Wealth KiwiSaver (FFKP) trust deed, the rebrand also comes with other changes including a higher maximum fee for any new underlying funds.
Existing funds in the scheme will retain the current 1 per cent maximum fee but Fisher will have the ability to charge “in respect of any other Fund established on or after 6 March 2024, up to 1.5% per annum of the Fund Value of the Fund (plus GST, if any)”.
Last year Fisher removed performance fees from its KiwiSaver schemes as of April 1 – albeit the manager did not collect any performance-related payments in either of its then two schemes for the 12 months to the end of March 31, 2023.
Fisher Funds part-owner, the US private equity firm TA Associates, also reportedly put its one-third stake on the market last November, hiring Goldman Sachs to sound out potential buyers.