Royal & SunAlliance set to broaden distribution

The Royal & SunAlliance group will not rule out further acquisitions, following the purchase of the remaining 40 per cent of master trust group Connelly Temple.

The Royal & SunAlliance group will not rule out further acquisitions, following the purchase of the remaining 40 per cent of master trust group Connelly Temple.

Dennis Fox, head of superannuation and investments at Royal & SunAlliance’s retail funds management arm Tyndall, says the group is interested in widening its distribution network and will consider any financial services group “that’s a good price”.

The acquisition of Connelly Temple brings funds under management at Tyndall to more than $5 billion, with another $2.5 billion in funds under administration.

It also opens up new avenues of distribution for the combined group, Fox says.

“Connelly Temple has three unique distribution capacities — the pension business, technical services and sub plans. When we say sub plans we mean that Connelly Temple manages superannuation arrangements for financial planning groups like Advisor Investments Services, Professional Investment Services, GIO and the Pharmacy Guild,” Fox says.

“Sub plans are a very effective way to build a bridge into dealer groups. That’s a very important market for us. We are implementing a distribution strategy for CLERP 6 and we do need to reinvigorate how we get products to the market.”

The strategy for the combined groups over the next six months will be “to develop a cohesive product suite incorporating Connelly Temple and Tyndall and grow the distribution channels”, Fox says.

Fox concedes there may be some impending staff movements. “There’s always an element of restructuring (following an acquisition),” he says.

However, he has ruled out any large scale restructuring at the group, either as a hangover effect from the merger between Tyndall and Royal & SunAlliance last year, or as a result of this latest acquisition.