The NZX funds management arm is in the final stages of offloading its UK pension transfer scheme.
According to a NZX spokesperson, the Smart funds group is “in exclusive negotiations with one party” to sell the roughly $120 million SuperLife UK pension fund.
“Smart has been refining our business strategy, focusing on our core role of fund product manufacture with omni-channel distribution,” the spokesperson said. “As part of this, we have explored the sale of our UK pension scheme.”
In October the NZX rebranded its Smartshares fund business as Smart with the adjacent SuperLife KiwiSaver and superannuation products slated for a renaming ceremony next year: the actively managed QuayStreet KiwiSaver and funds business, however, will retain a separate identity despite falling under the same operational group.
Now headed by Anna Scott, Smart also launched four new exchange-traded funds as it rebranded, adding to the 40 existing listed products.
SuperLife competes with about a dozen other NZ-based retail products in the qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme (QROPS) market, vying to manage UK immigrant retirement funds in what can be a lucrative game.
Industry estimates put the size of the UK pension money managed in NZ at about $2.5 billion as at the end of last year.
The NZ QROPS scene is dominated by a handful of providers, notably Britannia, Booster and i-Select, but with other options including the AMP NZ Retirement Trust, MAS, Craigs Investment Partners, NZ Funds, Booster and the Lifetime-owned Garrison Bridge.
In December last year, former Smartshares chief, Hugh Stevens, bought the independent adviser-supported i-Select QROPS, which currently has about $400 million under management: the scheme uses Adminis for custody and administration with Mercer as investment consultant.
While QROPS flows into NZ fluctuate along with immigration trends and UK tax rules, the market may see a local boost following legislation tabled in parliament in September.
Under the NZ amendments, QROPS money trapped in KiwiSaver schemes after a 2015 UK law change would be released without incurring tax.