Mercer deal stumps 20 Macquarie NZ staff
Up to 20 jobs could be laid off following Macquarie Asset Management’s (MAM NZ) shock decision to hand over the keys to its NZ outpost to Mercer.
Under the transaction announced last week, Mercer will assume legal control of the MAM NZ Fund, while Macquarie will remain investment manager for at least a portion of the underlying assets.
It is understood that only a local fixed income team of around 5 people will remain in the MAM NZ business as MAM NZ will effectively exit as a license manager.
MAM NZ (formerly AMP Capital NZ) employs around 25 staff and some may move to Mercer ahead of the expected legal completion in March next year. I have.
Rebekah Swan, head of MAM NZ, said in a note to customers last week: Multi-manager platform. Mercer has a large presence in New Zealand, with a team of 130 people. “
Macquarie last year acquired Wellington-based Manager as part of its A$63 million acquisition of AMP Capital’s Global Equity and Fixed Income (GEFI) business. In Australia, Macquarie purchased only his GEFI assets and retained the entire operation of AMP Capital NZ, taking formal ownership in March of this year.
MAM NZ has since transferred the product range of AMP Capital NZ’s 23 underlying funds to the new entity, poised for growth with the backing of the wider Macquarie business.
At one point, AMP Capital, NZ’s second largest fund manager, had more than half its assets under management as sister company AMP Wealth NZ exited a long-running mandate worth about $10 billion at the time. . AMP Wealth appointed BlackRock to manage most of KiwiSaver and Superannuation assets in passive funds.
According to MAM NZ’s latest accounts, the company managed about $2.7 billion across its fund range at the end of March this year, compared to almost $10 billion for the same period in 2021.
NZ cash and bond funds remain the largest of the MAM NZ fleet, with about $360 million under management at the end of March, compared with about $2.2 billion and $2 billion respectively 12 months ago and $340 million.
Meanwhile, in unrelated news last week, Pensions & Investments (P&I) announced that Macquarie Asset Management chief Ben Way will move to Sydney by the end of the year to spearhead the company’s ambitious growth plans. reportedly moving to New York.
Macquarie manages over A$770 billion in assets globally, with approximately two-thirds in listed assets and the remainder in the fast-growing private markets sector.
Wei told P&I that the US is “our biggest business in terms of people and AUM, and also our biggest opportunity.”
“New York is the wealth management capital of the world, so it’s great to be there,” Wei told P&I. “…you can’t ask your team to do something you haven’t done yourself.”
Macquarie acquired full ownership of breakthrough investment boutique Brook Asset Management in 2009 and closed the company in 2014. The Australian giant also holds a small stake in former Macquarie Equity Hobson Wealth Management. Warren Couillault bought his NZ business in 2016.
Mercer plans to acquire MAM NZ’s business in a non-cash transaction and enter into an investment management agreement with Macquarie, sources said. This transaction is subject to approval by the Guardian Trust, the overseer of MAM.
Macquarie, Mercer and MAM NZ could not be reached for comment.
https://investmentnews.co.nz/investment-news/mercer-deal-puts-20-macquarie-nz-staff-in-limbo/ Mercer deal stumps 20 Macquarie NZ staff