The Wellington office of Macquarie has suffered a mass exodus of advisers as the firm completes a corporate makeover.
It is understood three of the five Macquarie advisers housed in the group’s Wellington branch have decamped to rival broker, First NZ Capital, in the wake of the corporate restructure.
In the deal announced this May, Macquarie Australia agreed to sell down most of its holdings in the NZ operation to a management buy-out group backed by former Fisher Funds co-chief, Warren Couillault. Macquarie retains a 20 per cent stake in the NZ business.
At the time of the deal, Martin Wright, Macquarie Capital NZ chief, said an “essential part of the arrangement has been to provide a number of MPW NZ staff the opportunity to participate in equity ownership alongside Warren and Macquarie”.
While the majority of Macquarie advisers have stuck with the business post-sale, the Wellington-based Bryan Sheperd, Simon Hogg and James Malden have since defected to First NZ.
With the exit of the three Wellington staff, Macquarie’s authorised financial advisers (AFA) would number at 28, down from the 45 in 2013 listed by the Financial Markets Authority in 2013.
According to the latest annual accounts, Macquarie Equities NZ, which now lists Couillault and Kerry Porter as new directors, recorded a profit of about $1.2 million on fee and commission revenue of $19.9 million during the 12 months to March 31 this year.