Publicly listed Centuria Capital will look to buy fund managers with up to $1.5 billion in funds under management (FUM) to reach its stated target of expanding FUM by financial year 2013.
“We’ll be looking at fund managers in the range of $500 million to $1.5 billion in funds under management,” Centuria chief executive John McBain said.
McBain has said he aimed to triple the group’s property FUM to $3 billion by financial year 2013, mainly through acquisition, including wholesale mandate funds and real estate investment trusts.
Asked whether Centuria was in talks, he said: “We’ve got active files on a number of opportunities.”
Centuria Capital, formerly the Over 50 Group, has a financial services division and a property funds management arm.
Centuria has $2 billion under management, including $1 billion FUM in its property fund as of April this year.
“We are already in the market with platform guidance that we want to increase our funds under management to $3 billion by the end of next financial year,” McBain said.
“That will be done by organic acquisition of hard assets. It will also be done by acquisition of management rights or acquisition of other fund managers. The reason we’re gearing up for this is we think industry consolidation is rife at the moment,” he said.
“If there are any weaknesses in your funds management operation, this will be the time that it is isolated.”
The company has said it plans to spend about $250 million a year on acquisitions.
“We’ve got significant access to capital, experience and a very good senior management team, so we can look at acquisition opportunities as they present themselves and it’s a major focus for us going forward.”
He said Centuria also wanted to beef up its financial services side to balance its easy-to-forecast recurring income with the uneven cash flows typical of the property industry.
