Australian advisory firm merges with SAM

Alex Fowler's Strategic Asset Management group has merged with West Australian-based firm Plan B.

Wednesday, September 6th 2006, 6:26AM

Strategic Asset Management (SAM) has announced it is to merge with its Perth-based partner, Plan B, creating a combined entity with $1.6 billion in funds under management.

There will be no change of name for the company and SAM founder Alex Fowler will continue as CEO.

Fowler said that the merger is "two like-minded organisations joining forces".

"When I formed SAM five years ago, it was with the vision of bringing all the benefits of the science of modern finance to the New Zealand investor," Fowler said. "Plan B is precisely on the same page with these objectives and together we'll be able to offer the lowest-cost, most effective wealth management service in New Zealand.

"The merger with Plan B will also give us the resources and systems to be able to expand rapidly and to provide better technology and broader management skills to our clients than we've ever had at our disposal before."

Plan B managing director Denys Pearce said that the merger is an exciting development for the company. "SAM operates in a very similar fashion to Plan B in terms of philosophy and systems," he said.

"We can see that we can immediately add value to the SAM business for the benefit of the company and its clients."

Fowler says that acquisitions are already planned to speed the expansion, with growth into the South Island an important goal. "New Zealand investors in many cases are still working in the dark ages in terms of portfolio planning. They're not being offered the transparency that they should be on one hand and they're not receiving the full returns of the market on the other.

"Strategic Asset Management is absolutely committed to maximising investor returns, while lowering risk and costs to levels never before available to the average investor," he said. "And likewise we are also dedicated to assisting other professional investment advisors who are looking for more effective investment solutions for their clients."

Plan B began trading in 1988 as Precedent Financial Services, changing its name to Plan B in 2001. The company is undoubtedly one of the most successful wealth management providers of its kind across the Tasman, now with a team of more than 160 and 19,000 clients.

Plan B acquired 24.9% of SAM in November 2005.

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