Deakin appoints administrator

Phil Butterworth

The board of Deakin Financial Services, the former financial planning arm of DKN Financial Group, has appointed Ferrier Hodgson as administrators to manage the entity’s affairs as it progresses through the closing down process.

The reasoning behind the administrator’s involvement was to prevent the likelihood of Deakin becoming insolvent in the near future.

In an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange the company said: “Directors have taken the conservative option to appoint administrators now in light of the limited assets Deakin has and the unknown level of liabilities that may become payable from the legal and other claims made on the company.”

DKN Financial Group declared its intention to abandon its provision of financial planning services back in February of this year, instigating the winding up of Deakin.

At the time, DKN said it wanted to focus on the core areas of its operations, and licensing activities were not perceived as one of them.

“As most people will tell you, running a dealership isn’t a profitable venture. Even though ours was close to break-even, it did tie up resources and it wasn’t a positive contributor to the bottom line,” DKN chief executive Phil Butterworth said at the presentation of the group’s 2006 half-year results.

The move left 40 financial planners operating under the Deakin banner looking for another dealer group to join.