(31 January 2006 – New Zealand) National Australia Bank has completed the sale of BNZ Investment Management Ltd to Assure New Zealand Ltd, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Axa Pacific Holdings.The price of the deal, which was announced last November, has not been revealed but NAB restated that it was “not material to the National Group’s operations”.
NAB said a key component of the sale is the arrangement between Bank of New Zealand and Assure under which BNZ will distribute Assure’s managed funds products to the bank’s retail customers.
In November BNZ general manager of Personal Financial Services Blair Vernon said the business had been restricted in its ability to develop new opportunities because of the size of the New Zealand market.
BNZ Investment management has around NZ2.4 billion funds under management.