The National Australia Bank has paid $115 million for Deutsche Financial Planning and its non-discretionary master trust business Deutsche Funds Management.
The announcement brings to an end months of speculation as to the identity of the buyer after the group announced it wished to offload its financial planning and retail portfolio service in October last year. About 15 groups have been pointed to as potential buyers including AXA, AMP, Challenger and Mercantile Mutual.
NAB says it will integrate the 65 Deutsche planners into the Godfrey Pembroke group it acquired when it purchased MLC last year. Godfrey adviser numbers will rise to 175 and funds under advice will rise $3.9 billion to $7.5 billion. It will also bring the number of planners operating under the NAB banner to about 1500.
NAB says the $1.3 billion Deutsche Funds Management manage the manager master trust “aligns well” with the MLC MasterKey offering.
National’s wealth management business chief executive Peter Scott says the purchase complements NAB’s range of financial planning businesses which he says are “the broadest range of advice and investment solution platforms in the market”.
“The purchase reflected the Group’s strong commitment to its growth strategy focused on tailoring wealth management solutions with multi-channel distribution in both the retail and wholesale segments of the industry.”
Greg Devine, the former FPA president who represented the advisers/affiliates of Deutsche Financial Planning, welcomed the purchase announcement.
“We were fully involved in the process to determine the most appropriate partner for us and are convinced this represents the best outcome for Deutsche Bank, the advisers and their clients,” Devine says.
Completion of the transition is expected by the end of next month.
