Perth financial services company, Plan B, has substantially expanded its presence in New Zealand with the acquisition of a wealth management firm and a financial planning firm.
Perth financial services company, Plan B, has substantially expanded its presence in New Zealand with the acquisition of a wealth management firm and a financial planning firm.
The acquisitions of Strategic Asset Management and Rutherford Rede Wealth Management add further scale to Plan B, which manages $1.4 billion in its own fund management company.
Plan B managing director Denys Pearce said the group was keen to expand further in Australia, New Zealand and possibly Asia and the US.
“We have substantial intellectual property and we have invested heavily in the infrastructure of the company, which enabled us to expand rapidly outside of Western Australia,” Mr Pearce said.
“We will certainly be looking at further acquisitions and/or partnership arrangements with financial advisory firms in New Zealand. That’s not the only market we are looking at; we are exploring opportunities in the South-East Asian region.”
The acquisition of Strategic builds on a two-year association between the two companies.
Plan B has been providing back-offices services to Strategic since 2004 and previously acquired a 25 per cent shareholding in the Auckland company, which has about 400 clients and $130 million in funds under administration.
Rutherford Rede has seven offices and $80 million in funds under advice, and will merge with Strategic.
The two acquisitions lift Plan B’s staffing to 160 people in Perth and a further 25 in New Zealand.
Plan B was founded in 1988 by its chairman, Bryan Taylor, and Craig Lubich, who remain the company’s majority shareholders.
The group has completed several acquisitions in the Perth market, including KPMG Financial Planning.
It also acquired TrustWest and Terrace Counsellors as part of its ill-fated joint venture with BankWest, which was unwound in 2003.
Mr Pearce said the group believed it had a lot to offer financial planning firms in Australia, which could retain their own brand, possibly retain their own licence but use Plan B’s middle-office and back-office.
“In terms of overseas, we are currently exploring opportunities in South-East Asia and we are hopeful that before the end of this calendar year we will see the first partnerships established between financial advisory firms and Plan B,” he said.
“What they are attracted to is our investment methodology in terms of international equities.
“The other area we are exploring is the United States.”
The group’s plans for the US were at a very early stage, but options could include licensing its intellectual property or making acquisitions.
Mr Pearce said Plan B offered benefits in three areas: its approach to delivering wealth management advice; its proprietary administration platform, or wrap service; and its “unique investment methodology”.
He said Plan B has eliminated external fund managers from its investment process, instead investing directly in Australian and international shares in its own name.
“Plan B at any one time holds about 470 Australian stocks and we have a tilt towards small and value stocks, and we are able to manage that directly with our own mandate,” Mr Pearce said.
Plan B invests in international stocks through JP Morgan as its custodian and Dimensional Funds Advisers as its investment management adviser.
This arrangement gives Plan B exposure to up to 8,000 international stocks, also with a bias towards small and value stocks.
“We are trying to ensure that clients who need to engage the market can do so as efficiently as possible,” Mr Pearce said.
