News Round Up

S&P wants meeting with Basis Capital, Plan B IPO oversubscribed, Rating withdrawal, Strategi selects FAB Forté

Monday, July 16th 2007, 5:22AM

Standard & Poor's Fund Services says that it will be seeking a meeting with the management of Basis Capital to discuss how Basis Capital intends to address the current underperformance of the Basis Yield Fund and Basis Aust-Rim Fund.

The meeting will focus on the current developments in the structured credit markets, and specifically how the Basis Capital investment team is dealing with these issues.

"The estimates of June performance from Basis Capital are disappointing, and will require further analysis," S&P Fund analyst David Erdonmez says. "S&P is seeking to obtain a greater understanding of the underlying causes of the poor performance and to revisit the policies and procedures in place to manage the current challenges."

Plan B IPO oversubscribed
Plan B, the owner of a couple of New Zealand planning firms has completed its IPO and listed on the ASX.

Plan B says its A$30 million capital raising was "significantly oversubscribed with strong interest from institutional and retail investors".

The company owns a number of New Zealand advisory firms including Strategic and some former Rutherford Rede branches.

Plan B's market capitalisation will be A$74.9 million based on the offer price. Plan B has funds under management, administration and advice of A$1.75 billion as at June 30.

Strategi selects FAB Forté
Strategi has selected FAB Forté Adviser WorkBench as the preferred provider for the ING-aligned networks (PortfolioGroup, Accrue and DecisionMakers) ahead of Omnimax.

Strategi Ltd provides support services to over 40 independent financial adviser practices that have an alignment with ING.

It says with the industry gravitating towards consolidation and the emergence of dealer groups, it became necessary to select one as a preferred provider.

FAB came out on top overall, by a score of 76% for FAB vs. 68% for Omnimax.

Rating withdrawal
Linsa, the insurance company associated with Western Bay Finance, has had its rating withdrawn as it has ceased to be in business.

Standard & Poor's had given it an 'R' insurer financial strength rating.

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