Challenger to split business after merger

ChallengerInternationalandCPH Investmentwill split into life and non-life divisions following a merging of the two groups in July, an Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) briefing was told last week.

Challenger acting chief executive Chris Cuffe told the ASX the split business would consist of a pure life company — after joining the two existing life businesses together — and a separate non-life business, which will include the combined group’s funds management, financial planning, margin lending and Synergy master trust operations.

Cuffe said the reason for separating the businesses after the merger was to make it easier for the joint business to gauge the performance of each individual division.

“The current structure has the life company owning a lot of non-life assets, which then have to use appraisal value accounting, so it’s quite difficult to see the performance of one part of the business over another,” Cuffe said.

According to Cuffe, the post-merger focus would be on financial performance, which could be an issue given a $330 million net charge stemming from the transfer of CPH funds into the statutory funds of the Challenger life company.

Cuffe was positive about the future for funds management, despite the charge and weaker earnings for several of Australia’s big banks in the first half of 2002/03.