Equity Trustees (EQT) has appointed former UBS Wealth Management executive George Boubouras as interim chief investment officer, pending the outcome of its takeover bid for The Trust Company.
EQT wrote to The Trust Company shareholders earlier this week to extend its takeover offer for a further month to June after a muted response from shareholders, EQT told Super Review's sister publication Money Management.
It advised shareholders that The Trust Company share price would continue to fall if the takeover did not go ahead, while citing continuing out-performance and the benefits of scale as reasons to support the offer.
EQT said it was a "once in a lifetime offer" to merge two similar companies to achieve better returns, a deal which had been considered "reasonable" by an independent expert.
The Trust Company, in the week prior, had written to its shareholders to advise them to reject any offer by EQT. It said the current terms were inequitable, while the independent expert had concluded the offer needed improvement to benefit shareholders.
It said EQT had timed the takeover bid to align with the recent weakness in The Trust Company's share price, which did not reflect the long-term trading price relativities of the two companies.
Last September, The Trust Company teamed up with ING Direct to provide trustee services to its newly launched low-cost superannuation option, Living Super.
It announced intentions to expand operations across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore to create a super regional trustee offering.
