Macquarie wrapped up the transfer of 23 funds, comprising about $2.6 billion to Mercer NZ last week as the residue of AMP Capital NZ reached its final resting place.
Under the deal originally brokered in Australia last year, Mercer NZ took over management of the funds from Macquarie Asset Management NZ (MAM), which had absorbed the former AMP Capital NZ assets just 12 months prior.
MAM NZ chief, Rebekah Swan, and several other senior staff including head of investments, Michael Gray, have now left the business but Mercer retained almost half of the roughly 20-strong team.
In a statement, Mercer says it “welcomes seven new colleagues who have moved across from MAM, ensuring continuity of the relationship management, client service and operations support functions”.
Meanwhile, the MAM NZ rump business reverts to a local fixed income shop headed by Vicky Hyde-Smith with a total of six staff in the Wellington-based team.
Despite the shift of legal control, Macquarie will continue to manage more than half of the underlying assets in a series of eight co-branded Mercer NZ funds.
The Mercer-Macquarie products account for about $1.5 billion including the $336 million cash fund – the largest of the 23 strategies in the former MAM arsenal.
It is understood other underlying fund managers remain in place for now.
Macquarie paid A$63 million to buy the AMP Capital global equity and fixed income (GEFI) funds last April; taking over the Australian products directly while purchasing the NZ business, rebranded as MAM NZ.
Prior to the sale MAM NZ managed about $10 billion, or about half of the AMP Capital NZ peak a few years earlier when it was the second-largest fund manager in the country.
The MAM deal will help “deliver Mercer’s investment capabilities and research to more investors in New Zealand”, the statement says.
“We believe this will provide strategic benefits to clients, bringing together MAM’s capabilities in global investment management, and the strength of Mercer’s existing NZ multi-manager platform.”
Mercer NZ manages over $10 billion including more than $2 billion in its KiwiSaver scheme.
BNP Paribas retains custody duties of the former MAM funds while Guardian Trust also stays on as supervisor.