Asian firm Tricor Group to buy Guardian Trust and Covenant from Complectus

NZGT Holdings CEO Harry Koprivcic

Local corporate trust businesses Guardian Trust and Covenant have been snapped up by Hong Kong-based Tricor Group.

The two Kiwi businesses were part of financial services company Complectus, which is jointly owned by local private equity firm Direct Capital and the Andrew Barnes controlled Coulthard Barnes Holdings.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval and Tricor did not disclose a sale price when announcing the deal today.

The transaction does not include Perpetual Guardian, the private client services business also owned by Complectus.

Between them Guardian and Covenant have more than $250 billion in funds under supervision. Guardian, whose client book includes the four largest KiwiSaver providers, reported revenue of $25.36 million in the year to June 2020 and net profit of $12m.

Covenant posted revenue of $6.17m and net profit of $2.19m for the same reporting period.

Tricor serves over 50,000 client entities in 21 markets globally, including 20,000 clients in mainland China. It said in a statement it planned to invest further in the Guardian and Covenant businesses and all staff will remain in place as day to day operations remained unchanged.

"We're excited to welcome Guardian Trust and Covenant to the Tricor family and have been very impressed with the local management team led by NZGT Holdings CEO Harry Koprivcic," Tricor Group CEO Lennard Yong said.

Complectus began buying trustee firms in 2013 with the acquisition of Perpetual Trust before adding Guardian and Covenant to its stable. The group also includes Foundation Corporate Trust and New Zealand Trustee Services.

Barnes had planned to raise $150m in a public float of the company in 2016 but put it off citing volatility in the markets at the time.

Direct Capital emerged as a half owner of Complectus in 2019 after exercising a convertible loan issued in 2017 in a deal that valued the company at almost $130m.

Koprivcic says the decision to join forces with Tricor was strongly driven by the firm's global reputation and recognised strength in corporate services.

"Sharing in Tricor's service-oriented approach and benefiting from their investment, we will continue to grow our team and capabilities to support the delivery of our market-leading supervisory and trustee services to the New Zealand market."