POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
Westpac sells BT Super to Mercer
Westpac and BT Funds Management have entered into a Heads of Agreement to merge, through a successor fund transfer (SFT), BT’s personal and corporate superannuation funds with Mercer Super Trust.
Additionally, Westpac entered into an agreement to sell its Advance Asset Management business to Mercer Australia.
In an announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), Westpac said the merger of BT Super and sale of Advance remained subject to certain conditions and regulatory approvals and was expected to be completed in the first half of 2023.
The merger was of BT’s personal and corporate superannuation funds which had total funds under administration of $37.8 billion at the end of March 2022 and included the Westpac employee default plan. Westpac said BT employees who supported these funds would be offered employment by Mercer as part of the agreement.
The merger did not include superannuation held on Westpac’s BT Panorama and Asgard platforms.
The bank said the SFT would result in a small loss as a result of transaction and separation costs and the sale of Advance would result in a gain. The net effect of both over the remainder of FY22 and FY23 was expected to be an after-tax gain of $225 million.
Trustee chair, Gai McGrath, said: “The trustee engaged broadly across the industry and after a robust and competitive process this merger will create a larger superannuation fund with the potential to deliver improved performance, lower fees, and broader member services”.
Recommended for you
The lower outlook for inflation has set the stage for another two rate cuts over the first half of 2026, according to Westpac.
With private asset valuations emerging as a key concern for both regulators and the broader market, Apollo Global Management has called on the corporate regulator to issue clear principles on valuation practices, including guidance on the disclosures it expects from market participants.
Institutional asset owners are largely rethinking their exposure to the US, with private markets increasingly being viewed as a strategic investment allocation, new research has shown.
Australia’s corporate regulator has been told it must quickly modernise its oversight of private markets, after being caught off guard by the complexity, size, and opacity of the asset class now dominating institutional portfolios.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
DomaCom DFS Mortgage
92.15 3 y p.a(%)
2
Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF
53.24 3 y p.a(%)
3
Global X GlobalX FANG+ ETF
43.15 3 y p.a(%)
4
DomaCom Shoreline North Coogee
36.26 3 y p.a(%)
5
GAM LSA Private Shares AU I
35.87 3 y p.a(%)
