Forget FUM – it’s the advisers that count
Two consecutive but unrelated events last week have helped paint a far rosier picture for the future of distribution in this industry.
Forget FUM – it’s the advisers that count
Two consecutive but unrelated events last week have helped paint a far rosier picture for the future of distribution in this industry.
Firstly, MLC’s $8.50 a share trump card slapped on the table for the Godfrey Pembroke business surprised even some old stagers of the in-dustry with its stratospheric valuation.
The MLC bid, trumping AMP’s $7.23 per share offer, values the Godfrey Pembroke business at around $40 million. A breath taking analysis, some say.
Sources within the AMP camp, who for obvious reasons would prefer not to be named, say at those crazy prices they might as well forget GPL, clean up their own house and put it on the market.
For if GPL can attract multiples that values it in the tens of mil-lions, why not a Hillross or an AMP Financial Planning walking away with the cash?
Not that this would become official strategy, but it is an interest-ing scenario nonetheless.
Meanwhile, in stark contrast, all bidders walked away form the rich pickings of BT Funds Management, citing disnchantment with the price, among other things.
Does this mean, on a relative scale, that distribution, not funds un-der management, is still the main game? You bet your life it does.
For despite the successes enjoyed by BT over the years, recent events, including the haemorrhage of money from its wholesale busi-ness throughout the Deutsche purchase process, prove that the market can be a fickle animal.
But get your distribution strategies right, and you’re pretty much on the way. At least that is the thinking of MLC. Should it win the GPL business, its stated intentions are to pretty much leave the business alone. Such a strong show of faith in the value of the advisers that underpin GPL and its master trust OneSource underlines the strategy.
Like RetireInvest, Sealcorp, IPAC and others before it, the next chapter in the Godfrey Pembroke is one worth sticking around for, particularly for GPL shareholders.
And in other developments, it is great to see the boy from the bush get the nod in the big smoke. Enter Ray Grifffin, the new chairman-elect to the Financial Planning Association.
This newspaper is proud of its part in the development of the FPA’s senior talent – Ray is a recipient of our Financial Planner of the Year Award.
A solid planner who is across the practitioner and dealer issues, Ray will make a strong and valuable contribution at a critical time for the association.
And the “Little General” Wes McMaster should be congratulated for his role in getting the FPA to its position of strength.
His contribution will long be remembered.
