Pyne Gould names John Duncan to head Perpetual Asset Management

Tuesday 11th August 2009

Pyne Gould Corp. named former Macquarie Group executive John Duncan as head of its newly created asset management arm, Perpetual Asset Management.

The finance group aiming to become a bank is creating its enlarged funds management unit after agreeing to buy Equity Partners Asset Management, an asset manager controlled by Pyne director George Kerr, for $18 million.

As part of the group’s rearrangements, the parent will acquire $160 million of impaired or likely to be impaired loans from its MARAC unit. The loans will subsequently be acquired by a new unit, Torchlight Credit Fund, part of Perpetual.

Pyne Gould will take a one-time charge of as much as $65 million against its full-year results.

Perpetual Asset Management will have the management contract for all of Pyne Gould’s funds, including Torchlight, which will specialise in commercial and residential real estate asset backed credit and may become the largest fund of its type in New Zealand, the company has said.

Duncan was an executive director at Macquarie Group and helped establish the firm’s presence in New Zealand and into Asia, the company said in a statement.

He will start in the role immediately, under the guidance of a board chaired by Kerr and including Bryan Mogridge, Bruce Irvine and Pyne Gould chief executive Jeff Greenslade.

Shares of Pyne Gould last traded yesterday at $1.34 and have tumbled 25% in the past three months.

Businesswire.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet