Equity Trustees has cited the "underperformance" of the Trust Company's personal client business and its failure to appoint a new chief executive as being amongst the reasons Trust Company shareholders should vote in favour of the company's acquisition by Equity Trustees.
The claims around the under-performance of the private client business are contained in a letter sent to Trust Company shareholders last week and released to the Australian Securities Exchange, in which Equity Trustees claims the strategies which resulted in the improved performance of its own Private Wealth division could be applied to the Trust Company operations.
"Equity Trustees strategies in its Private Wealth division, which resulted in increased revenue by 5 per cent in the first half of 2013, could be applied to lift Trust Company' performance in this area," the letter signed by Equity Trustees chairman, Tony Killen and managing director, Robin Burns said.
Equity Trustees moved to acquire Trust Company late last month and is arguing there is powerful logic in the transaction, with Equity Trustees in a position to resolve a number of the issues currently facing the company.
The letter also cites Trust Company having failed to implement a new information technology system and the ability of Equity Trustees to utilise its own system to handle the company's business.
As well, it cites the fact that Equity Trustees' share price has more than tripled over the past 10 years, while "Trust Company's price has tracked sideways over 10 years".
