Guardian Trust and Covenant sold to Asian entity

Harry Koprivcic.

The sale is made up of Complectus's corporate businesses and the company will retain ownership of its private client services business Perpetual Guardian.

The company has considered various sales over recent years including a proposed sharemarket listing and an aborted sale to Australian-based Sargon Capital.

Hong Kong-based Tricor Group has signed a sale and purchase agreement to buy NZGT Holding Company for an undisclosed amount.

Tricor is Asia's leading business expansion specialist, and is the largest pure-play corporate services platform in the Asia Pacific region, serving more than 50,000 client entities across its 21 markets.

"This proposed acquisition will see the group and its New Zealand clients benefit from Tricor's significant financial backing, global best practices, and innovative product and service offerings," the company says in a statement.

Guardian Trust and Covenant provide corporate supervisory services and has more than $250 billion in funds under supervision. Guardian Trust and Covenant will continue to grow its team and capabilities through further investment by Tricor Group.

The entire team will remain with the business and benefit from opportunities this global alignment offers. Day to day operations remain unchanged, it says.

Tricor's Global Corporate Trust business will operate and serve clients across five global markets including Hong Kong SAR, Beijing, Singapore, UK and New Zealand.

Perpetual Guardian, the private client services business of Complectus, does not form part of this acquisition and will remain with Andrew Barnes's company Complectus.

Tricor Group chief executive Lennard Yong; "We're excited to welcome Guardian Trust and Covenant to the Tricor family and have been very impressed with the local management team led by NZGT Holdings chief executive Harry Koprivcic.

"The addition of Guardian Trust and Covenant to Tricor's corporate trust business practice will enable us to enhance our client proposition and offer market-leading trust solutions in New Zealand and across Australasia and Asia-Pacific."

Koprivcic says the decision to join forces with Tricor was strongly driven by the firm's global reputation and recognised strength in corporate services.

"Sharing in Tricor's service-oriented approach and benefiting from their investment, we will continue to grow our team and capabilities to support the delivery of our market-leading supervisory and trustee services to the New Zealand market."