Georgina Dudley

Australia’s largest investment consultant, JANA, will become fully management owned following the buyout of Insignia Financial Group’s (Insignia Financial) minority shareholding.

JANA CEO Georgina Dudley welcomed the “exciting new chapter for JANA as a wholly management owned business,” signalling continued growth for Australia’s largest and most influential investment consultant, which manages more than $1.3 trillion in funds under advice.

JANA acquired a majority share of the business from MLC Wealth in 2017, which retained a 45 per cent share. MLC Wealth was subsequently bought by Insignia Financial.

The change resulted in significant growth. In 2017, JANA had 85 staff and $350 billion in investments under advice, which has risen today to more than 140 staff and more than $1.3 trillion in investments under advice.

“Over the past five years, we have seen the benefits of management ownership and how it has further aligned our focus with clients, whilst allowing us to deliver exceptional investment results and significantly grow our funds under advice,” said Ms Dudley

“Full management ownership enables us to continue to build on that success and seize even more opportunities for our clients,” she said. “This is a significant next step in JANA’s evolution, enhancing both autonomy and alignment, and linking staff directly to the success of the business and our clients.

“Moving to full equity ownership will continue to improve JANA’s ability to attract, retain and develop its people,” Ms Dudley said. Since the initial management buyout, JANA has achieved an exceptionally low turnover of staff, well below industry averages.

“JANA is committed to investing in further growth and expanding its offerings, as well as adopting new technology and sophisticated data analysis to meet the growing needs of the business and its clients, including those in the Not-for-Profit, Insurance and Wealth partnerships sectors.”

Fiona Dunn, Chairperson of the JANA Board, said, “We are very excited to have Georgina lead JANA into its next phase as we continue to drive the best possible outcomes for our clients.”

Ms Dunn thanked Insignia Financial for its support. “The partnership between JANA, MLC and Insignia Financial over the past 20 years has seen significant success and growth,” she said. We thank them for all their contribution and commitment.”

Insignia Financial’s Chief Asset Management Officer, Garry Mulcahy, a JANA Board member, said the partnership “had been productive for both Insignia Financial and JANA” and that “this resetting of the commercial relationship is on strategy and aligned to Insignia Financial’s ongoing focus on simplification”.

JANA will continue to provide investment consulting services to Insignia Financial.

Mr Mulcahy and Insignia Financial’s other representative will step down from JANA’s Board and further non-executive Directors will be announced through a structured succession in 2023.

The buyout will not impact JANA’s existing client services or agreements. The transaction is due to be completed by 31 January 2023.

The post Australia’s largest investment consultant becomes fully management owned appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Renato Mota

IOOF Holdings Ltd (IOOF) is pleased to announce the completion of the acquisition of MLC Wealth (MLC) from National Australia Bank Limited (NAB) with effect from 11:59pm on 31 May 2021.

Key points

• Establishes IOOF as the wealth management market leader in Australia.
• Doubles the size of the IOOF business to $494 billion Funds Under Management, Administration and Advice (FUMA)^[1] .
• An additional 406 MLC advisers joining IOOF, expanding the scale and reach of the advice business.
• The step-change in scale will over time lower the cost to serve more than 2.2 million IOOF clients and members.
• From May 31, 2021, a single senior leadership and management structure is in place and operational.
• As a result of the consolidation work and planning in advance of completion, IOOF expects to deliver a run-rate of between $65 million to $80 million of the estimated $150 million in cost synergies by the end of FY22.

IOOF CEO, Renato Mota, said, “This acquisition is truly transformational for IOOF as it positions us as the leader of a new era of wealth management in Australia, giving us a strong platform for future growth.

“Today we become a new IOOF. We have the strategic intent, the talent, and now the scale, to deliver our advice-led wealth management proposition to more Australians than ever before. While this acquisition delivers immediate value to our shareholders, we consider its potential for medium and long-term value even more compelling.

“IOOF and MLC share a common purpose to improve the financial wellbeing of all Australians. We also share a client-oriented philosophy and together, we will now be proudly serving over 2.2 million Australians.

“Together, we will deliver clients and members broader access to wide-ranging capabilities and technical expertise, enhanced infrastructure and a strong corporate governance framework. Importantly, this step-change in scale will over time, lower the cost of serving clients and members.

“It will also help us make financial advice more affordable and accessible for the 80% of the population who currently do not seek it out.

“While the financial services industry in Australia is transforming, the wealth management sector system growth continues to be strong, with a five-year compound annual growth of superannuation assets of 9% per annum^[2] . A bigger and better IOOF will be positioned to take advantage of these opportunities by being at the forefront of the industry transformation.”

Stronger together

The acquisition of MLC by IOOF combines two of Australia’s oldest leading wealth managers. Planning for the integration of the two organisations has been completed, which will enable IOOF to expeditiously integrate the businesses, led by IOOF’s dedicated transformation function.

Mr Mota commented, “In place from today is a single senior leadership and management structure, which is streamlined and simplified. Since the announcement of the acquisition, we have worked to identify the right talent to take the company forward. This has involved an assessment of talent and skills of MLC, IOOF, and external candidates. From day one, we now have the go-forward senior management team committed, in place and including senior leaders from MLC.”

Two new senior executive appointments to IOOF’s Executive Team were announced today. Mr. Garry Mulcahy is appointed Chief Asset Management Officer. Garry has a long and extensive career with MLC, including as EGM for Asset Management from 2009 to 2018 and more recently as Group Executive, MLC Asset Management. Garry will be responsible for overseeing IOOF’s return to active investment management. Ms. Sawsan Howard has been appointed Chief Corporate Affairs and Marketing Officer. Sawsan brings over 25 years’ experience across multiple sectors including financial services and government, most recently as General Manager, Brand & Corporate Affairs at AustralianSuper.

There will be 406 MLC financial advisers joining IOOF’s licensees on day one, representing 84% of advisers from MLC advice businesses that were in IOOF’s target set and met onboarding requirements. This is consistent with IOOF’s expectations formed during due diligence.

Mr Mota said, “It has been a priority for IOOF to ensure that those advisers joining the Group with this acquisition, as with the ANZ Wealth acquisition, are aligned with IOOF’s ClientFirst philosophy and our Advice 2.0 response to the transformation of financial advice in Australia.

“We are thrilled to welcome the very talented MLC team to the IOOF family.”

Financial reporting

Considerations:

• Transaction funding sources and uses are shown in the table below. IOOF will provide an update on leverage at its full year results presentation in August 2021.

• IOOF will incorporate MLC’s Funds under Management and Administration into its Q4 Business Update on 29 July 2021. Funds under Advice is not a metric currently reported externally by MLC.
• Internal alignment of reporting, including the re-alignment of year-end for MLC corporate entities to 30 June 2021 (currently 30 September), is in progress.
• IOOF intends to provide pro forma standalone financial results for MLC for the year ended 30 June 2021 at its full year results presentation.
• One-off pre-tax integration and transaction costs of approximately $360m are expected to be incurred over the period to end FY24.
• Further information in relation to the MLC transaction will be provided at IOOF’s Q4 Business Update and at its full year financial results.

Schedule – Key terms of Subordinated Loan Notes (SLNs)

• SLNs are unsecured subordinated debt obligations of IOOF.
• 1% per annum coupon, payable semi-annually. Step up to 4% per annum if Noteholders request redemption more than 42 months after the issue date and the Company does not redeem. • 5-year term with an early redemption start period of 42 months from Completion.
• Equity linked redemption linked to any uplift in notional securities over an initial reference price of $4.42 and subject to downward adjustments for dividends, share and security issues and other adjustments including for restructures.
• IOOF permitted to accelerate redemption after 3 years if VWAP is at least 150% of the reference price or in the case of certain tax changes. Holder permitted to accelerate redemption at any time commencing 42 months after the issue date, subject to Issuer consent, or upon change in control (acquisition by a person of beneficial ownership of 50% or more of the ordinary voting power or outstanding voting shares) or delisting or 15 trading day suspension.

———

[1] As at 31 March 2021, excludes MLC FUAdvice. Sources: (1) IOOF Q3 2021 Business Update (29 April 2021). (2) NAB Appendix 4D (released to the ASX 6 May 2021), page 74.
[2] 5-year compound annual growth of total superannuation assets to March 2021 per APRA Superannuation Statistics.

The post A New IOOF: MLC acquisition completes appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Bernard will join the NAB Asset Management leadership team and provide direction on strategic and operational initiatives.

NAB Asset Management Executive General Manager Garry Mulcahy said: “I am pleased to announce Bernard in the newly created role of COO for NAB Asset Management. Throughout his career Bernard has focused on driving and implementing effective business strategy, and we look forward to benefiting from his broad global experience and insights.”

Speaking of his appointment Mr Reilly said: “The NAB Asset Management team already has a significant footprint in the Australia funds management industry through its investment management and asset consulting capabilities, and I’m looking forward to helping the business take the next step in its evolution.”

Bernard previously spent 24 years with State Street Global Advisors, the world’s second largest asset manager. Bernard’s recent roles include Executive Vice President, Global Head of Strategy and Executive Vice President, Head of Asia Pacific. He has also held roles in Business Development and as Senior Portfolio Manager.

Bernard holds a Bachelor of Economics and is a Chartered Financial Analyst of the CFA Institute.

The post NAB Asset Management announce new COO appeared first on AdviserVoice.

“I’m extremely excited and honoured to be appointed General Manager of a business with the outstanding reputation of Antares Equities. I’ve been with Antares since 2012 and in these 3 years the business has continued to strengthen its capabilities and distribution network. I’m looking forward to the next stage of its growth and being an integral part of its future,” Mr Donohoe said.

Brendan joined the Executive team at Antares Equities in mid-2012 in the role of Head of Institutional Sales and has been with the NAB Group for 5 years.

NAB Asset Management Executive General Manager Garry Mulcahy said: “Antares is a critical component of the NAB Asset Management suite of investment solutions, with the foundation of the business being formed in 1994 before growing into the business it is today with over $7.7 billion* funds under management.

“It was paramount to us that in appointing the right candidate we found someone with the right leadership qualities and industry experience. We believe Brendan is the perfect candidate to drive the business forward.”

Prior to joining Antares, Brendan was a Divisional Director at JANA Investment Advisers, responsible for managing its business development, marketing and communications divisions. As part of his leadership role in the firm he had a specific focus on business strategy.

Brendan started his career with Bank of Ireland Asset Management Limited where he held numerous Senior Executive roles and Directorships in the 29 years he worked with the company, establishing and running divisions of the asset management business in Ireland, Australia, Japan, UK & North America.

The post Antares Equities appoints new General Manager appeared first on AdviserVoice.