Deal: Merger of Asset Super with CareSuper

Area: M&A

Value: Undisclosed

Key players: The Corrs team advising on the transaction was led by partner Michael Chaaya, who was supported by special counsel Joanne Dwyer and associates Emma Higgs, Hilda Wehbi and Lisa Cheng

Deal significance: The Asset Super fund is an industry super fund with almost 80,000 members throughout Australia, more than $1.6 billion FUM and more than 15,000 employers actively contributing, as at August 2012. The CareSuper fund is the largest industry fund for the professional, managerial, administrative and service occupations and looks after more than $4.9 billion for over 187,000 members throughout Australia, with more than 54,000 participating employers.

Following the transfer of members and assets from Asset Super to CareSuper, it is expected that the merged fund will have almost 267,000 members throughout Australia, with more than $6.5 billion in FUM and approximately 69,000 participating employers (figures as at 31 August 2012).  The merger followed an extensive due diligence on each fund and is symptomatic of the trend towards consolidation in the superannuation industry. 

“There is a great deal of merger activity in the superannuation industry at the moment and this is another example of the trend towards industry consolidation,” said Chaaya.

VIEW ALL

“A key factor in the transaction was the availability of CGT relief for super fund mergers. The Government’s proposal to extend the availability of the CGT relief was critical in terms of enabling the merger to proceed.”

The merger of the two funds will take place by way of a successor fund transfer under regulation 6.29 of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 (Cth) (SIS Regs), and is expected to complete in late October.