St George shake-up of WealthPoint

WealthPointand Sealcorp chief executives Brett Sanders and Ian Knox respectively, have resigned as directors of WealthPoint Limited in a shake-up of the company’s board following its acquisition by theSt George Bank.

St George was given the go-ahead by the Supreme Court to proceed with the acquisition of Wealthpoint last week, paving the way for the bank to purchase the remaining 92 per cent stake in WealthPoint that it does not already own.

In a deal worth over $30 million, and already approved by WealthPoint shareholders, St George will pay 60 cents a share for the remaining 52 million shares in the financial services group.

The deal will see WealthPoint brought within the St George Group as a wholly-owned subsidiary operating under its own management structure and board.

But both Sanders and Knox have been required to resign their positions on the WealthPoint board to be replaced by St George’s group financial controller Steven McKerihan and general counsel Michael Bowen.

Sanders was quick to welcome the St George acquisition yesterday, saying the deal would allow WealthPoint to maintain much needed funding at a time of great volatility in equity markets.

He says the decision by St George to alter the make-up of the WealthPoint board was based on the bank’s standard governance practice, designed to separate the functions of the board from senior management.

Sanders’ role will now be to concentrate exclusively on getting WealthPoint products to market, including an updated version of the group’s Whole-of-Wealth-Management platform for dealers and advisers, originally launched in July.

“We are looking to expand the platform and put subsequent releases out in the course of the year,” Sanders says.

“We are very much onward and upwards in terms of completing these developments following our acquisition by St George.”