Fisher Funds has completed the NZ$79 million acquisition of Tower Investments from Tower Limited that was originally announced in February.
Fisher Funds says it is now the largest New Zealand owned and managed KiwiSaver provider with 269,000 customers and $5.5 billion under management.
“We are proud of Fisher Funds’ journey to date, one that has seen us attract a large and loyal client base as a result of excellent investment returns and our commitment to servicing our clients. We look forward to extending this high quality customer service to all Tower Investments clients,” Fisher Funds managing director Carmel Fisher says.
The company has not provided any details as to how funding of the deal was structured, other than it involved TSB Bank becoming a 26% shareholder of Fisher, that most existing shareholders contributed capital and that Fisher's bank ANZ loaned some more money. No figures have been provided, however.
Carmel Fisher says there will be few immediate changes for Tower clients as we spend time fully understanding the business.
"Over the next twelve months, we will select the superior elements from both the Tower and Fisher Funds offerings to provide a range of best in class Fisher Funds branded products and services for current and future clients to choose from. As we go through the process we will of course keep our clients fully informed, explaining the impact and benefit of any changes.”
She has previously said that acquisition of the Tower Investments assets should provide opportunities for operating efficiencies - and this would allow Fisher Funds to drop fees both for KiwiSaver and non-KiwiSaver clients.
Tower Investments is the fourth KiwiSaver provider acquired by Fisher Funds in the last three years taking its market share to approximately 10%.
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