Lonsec Holdings (Lonsec) is an independent partner to the Wealth Management industry, providing preeminent products and services that are critical to key industry participants to enable them to serve their respective clients efficiently and effectively.

Lonsec’s mission is to “help clients make better investment decisions.” To achieve this, Lonsec continues to lead and evolve with the Wealth Management industry, consistently offering market leading, innovative products and services.

Lonsec is pleased to announce the acquisition of Implemented Portfolios Limited (IPL), a specialist Managed Discretionary Account (MDA) provider to High Net Wealth Individuals and affluent retail clients.

Advisers are increasingly recognising and valuing the substantial time savings and operational risk mitigation benefits of Managed Accounts, with the growing appeal of Managed Accounts predicated on their unique ability to holistically deliver on clients’ investment and service objectives.

Lonsec CEO, Mike Wright, said ‘Lonsec has a deep history and commitment to helping Advisers meet the needs of their clients via our market leading qualitative investment research and Managed Account solutions. I am excited to have IPL joining the Lonsec Group to further enable us to meet the changing needs of Advisers.’

The Australian Managed Account market, currently with Funds Under Management (FUM) of $131.2bn*, is fast growing, with a five year Compounding Annualised Growth Rate (CAGR) of close to 30% pa*. The acquisition of IPL will boost Lonsec’s FUM to over $5bn.

The acquisition of IPL expands our offer with complementary Managed Account solutions now available to Advisers, whether it be Separately Managed Accounts (SMA) or the adoption and deepening of MDA services. From a commercial perspective the acquisition of IPL further diversifies our business and will, positively impact Lonsec’s earnings and margins, before synergies are realised.

Mr Wright said ‘The acquisition will not distract from Lonsec’s core business activity of research and ratings via the key business units of Lonsec Research and SuperRatings. Lonsec is used for research and ratings by hundreds of Fund Managers, Super Funds, and thousands of Advisers every day’. Importantly, to maintain its independence, Lonsec reaffirms its commitment not to issue Retail Managed Funds.

‘Lonsec’s Investment Solutions business harnesses the depth and breadth of Lonsec’s extensive research when constructing portfolios. We look forward to sharing our intellectual capital with the IPL team to potentially leverage when constructing and managing client portfolios.

‘Similarly, we are excited to welcome, and learn from the experienced, professional IPL team, who I know will make a fantastic contribution to our overall business whilst they stay focussed on helping their highly valued IPL clients.’ concluded Mr Wright

Greg Kirk, Executive Chair of IPL, said ‘Since 2010, IPL has been changing the conversation about portfolio construction taking place within advice practices. We only see this expanding as part of the Lonsec Group.’

The businesses will be managed separately for the foreseeable future, with IPL becoming a fully owned subsidiary of Lonsec.  To ensure continuity for clients and partners, all of IPL’s staff will remain within the Group. Greg Kirk will remain a Non-Executive Director of IPL, whilst Michael Wright becomes IPL’s new CEO.

*Source: IMAP FUM Census December 2021
+ Source: Investment Trends, January 2022 Managed Account Report

Release ends

For more information, please contact:

Rob Hardy
Rob.Hardy@lonsec.com.au

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