Combined group represents 710 advisers

TNP and Ginger Group have now merged and plan to become the next generation of dealer groups.

Monday, June 30th 2014, 6:00AM

The combined business has been renamed Kepa, The Advisers Institute.

TNP is the majority owner with a 57.5% stake, the Ginger Group sits at 37.5% and the remaining 5% is with Experti – Experienced Active Involvement, which is owned by interim chairman David Johnstone.

TNP boss Jeff Page is the chief executive of the new group. He is also one of the TNP representatives on the seven-person board. The other is Jamie Coltman. Ginger Group have Maurice Trapp and Nicola Smee on the board and both groups each have to appoint an independent non-executive director.

Page says the plan is to appoint an independent chairman. The interim chairman is David Johnstone. He has been on the Ginger board as a representative of PIS Australia. (Ginger was created through the merger of PIS, Brokers Independent Group and Minerva).

For more on who scored operational roles see the Good Returns’ People page.

Page says the deal has taken seven months to complete.

“The market and environment we are operating in has become more dynamic and we believe there is a need for businesses like TNP and Ginger Group to have more scale and more options.”

“The merger between the two groups creates a tremendous opportunity to incorporate the best of both groups’ existing development tools and services for the benefit of advisers. More importantly, the new group has the scale and capability to develop new programmes and services that will further advantage the adviser market and increasingly differentiate us from the rest of the market.”

The new entity will have:

• 710 advisers;
• $37 million of annual premium income (API);
• $365 million of funds under management;
• $192 million of funds under management in KiwiSaver;
• Over $100 million of in-force API.

Interim chairman David Johnstone says: “We believe the creation of this new company will be well received by the industry – including our strategic partners, the banks, insurers and advisers throughout the country – for many reasons, not the least of which is that it will strengthen our business and give us scale, which will allow us to further invest in the tools required by our adviser base to grow their businesses.

"It will also help increase our exposure, which will attract new advisers to us and the industry," he says.

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