Independent fund administration company Apex Fund Services is to open its first office in Australia. The Apex Sydney office has been launched following the acquisition of Lazorne Fund Administration Service from Lazorne Group Pty Ltd.
Apex also intends to open an office in Melbourne during the second half of this year which will be a specialist independent administration business aimed at servicing superannuation funds. Apex intends to grow its Australian offices to 100 people within five years.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Apex will begin providing fund administration services to Lazorne’s existing investment managers and at the same time start offering Apex’s real time Middle Office service, Emerging Manager Platforms and other fund administration services to the Australian market.
Australia’s fund management industry has approximately AU$1.7 trillion assets under management (AUM) and employers must put a minimum of 9% of gross wages into a superannuation fund which is due to rise to 12% by 2019.
Anthony D’Silva, Managing Director of Apex China will also have responsibility for the Australian offices.
Peter Hughes (pictured), Group Managing Director, Apex Fund Services, says: “Apex is totally committed to working alongside its clients in their own location and we have already begun introducing our range of fund administration and middle office services to Australian asset managers.
“Australian based asset managers have good performance but have only recently begun to aggressively market themselves to attract global capital. Through the Apex Global Network we provide Australia’s asset managers with seamless access to the world’s financial centres and we are seeing exciting synergies with our offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai and further afield.
“Australian managers who are located outside of Australia to build offshore funds, are increasingly looking at EU regulated funds for asset raisings. To do this they need an Australian unit trust feeder for their Australian clients which in turn require specialist fund administration due to the complicated tax rules.
“With our new offices in Australia we can efficiently provide fund administration for all the needs of these Australian managers and all the products they intend to launch, wherever they are located.”
Anthony D’Silva, Managing Director, Apex Fund Services Australia, says: "Bringing together Lazorne’s local knowledge with Apex’s international expertise will create a powerful force in the Australian fund industry. By combining the fund administration activities of the two companies, Apex will be targeting both the large, established funds as well as the emerging managers."
