Simon Eagleton, investments leader for Mercer in the Pacific region, said: “PPM is a strong business with a unique proposition, providing natural synergies with Mercer’s current investment services.
“Mercer is a well-established multi-manager in Australia, with a long history serving the needs of large endowments and foundations, and more recently, individuals intermediated by financial advisers.
“The addition of PPM allows us to service the entire investor market — from our Mercer Super Trust members through to private clients and family offices — and support even more investors in achieving their wealth objectives.”
PPM’s transition to Mercer is due to occur in the fourth quarter of 2023. At that time, PPM staff will transfer to Mercer to continue relationship management, client service, and operations support functions.
The announcement on Monday follows the merger of BT Super with Mercer Super Trust, which was completed in April. The merger also saw 350 BT employees join Mercer, including the addition of former BT Super executives into the Mercer leadership team.
According to Mercer, the Mercer Super Trust is now one of the 15 largest funds in Australia with approximately 850,000 members and $63 billion total assets under management.
At the time, Mercer Super chief executive officer Tim Barber said: “The merger of BT Super into the Mercer Super Trust provides the platform for Mercer Super to keep diversifying and growing our offering for members, while maintaining a continued commitment to fund performance and some of the lowest fees in the market.”
Mercer has also recently completed the acquisition of Advance Asset Management, as well as a merger with $700 million not-for-profit super fund Lutheran Super.
In a statement, Lutheran Super chair John Grocke said that the merger was in the best interest of the fund’s 5,700 members, which include more than 300 pensioners.
“From the outset, we have sought a merger partner that could deliver the best retirement outcomes possible for our members,” said Mr Grocke.
