Mellon sells product business

Mellon Australia has offloaded the product business of its Mellon Human Resources and Investor Solutions (HR&IS) division to SMF Funds Management after a 12 month review found many of the offerings lacked sufficient scale.

The product business includes the majority of former NSP Buck products and services that were acquired when Mellon bought the superannuation administrator and consultant in December 2001 after buying out its three main shareholders.

As part of the deal with SMF, Mellon will transfer ownership of the Mellon Master Trust, the Mellon Eligible Rollover Fund, the Mellon Solutions Pooled Superannuation Trust, and its financial planning and investment consulting practices.

“From our analysis, it was evident that to continue to provide our clients with competitive products we needed to align ourselves strategically with a provider specialised in this market,” Mellon HR&IS managing director Barry Rafe said.

According to Rafe, who joined the group last October when Mellon Financial Corporation globally rebranded its human resources and investor services business to Mellon Human Resources and Investor Solutions, the deal with SMF was driven by the need for significant scale in the implemented investment services space.

Earlier this year SMF purchased a portion of the Mellon FutureLink Master Trust, which boosted the group’s funds under management by $100 million and brought in 100 corporate superannuation funds.

The acquisition pushes SMFs managed and administered assets to more than $6.8 billion on behalf of more than 190,000 members.

“We are ideally placed to manage a range of risks including the management demands of local and international regulators, the licensing of superannuation trustees, and the impending arrival of Choice of Fund,” SMF managing director Chris Kelaher said.