Ratings house van Eyk Research has completed the purchase of New Zealand-based Perpetual companies, which would increase the group's consolidated gross annual revenues by 50 per cent, the researcher announced.
The sale of Perpetual Asset Management and Perpetual Portfolio Management was first announced in January by George Kerr's Pyne Gould Corporation, which also decided to sell its 38.2 per cent share in van Eyk.
The two-step transaction involves Pyne Gould selling Perpetual to van Eyk, then selling its stake in the ratings house to London-based Australian Wealth Management managing director, Andrew Barnes.
The first step has been completed, with van Eyk chief executive Mark Thomas saying the Perpetual companies were a good strategic fit.
"We are very excited about the purchase of the Perpetual wealth management companies and the opportunities that this presents us in New Zealand," Thomas said. "van Eyk has been assisting New Zealand investors for some years and we look forward to working with the Perpetual businesses to grow the combined entity into a strong financial services group."
Perpetual Asset Management was established in New Zealand in 2010 as the funds management division of the Perpetual Group and manages around $NZ380 million in funds.
Perpetual Portfolio Management is the personal wealth management division of Perpetual.
The purchase of these companies — which are unrelated to the Australian-based Perpetual Limited — follows other strategic initiatives by van Eyk, including the purchase of practice management consultancy the Encore Group and the launch of financial advice arm, van Eyk Advice.
However, the researcher will not be purchasing trustee company Perpetual Trust as previously announced.
