Investors net $12m from sale of FNZ

FNZ's London-based chief executive, Adrian Durham, said the shareholders wanted to sell and the winning bid was made by its management team, which secured financial backing for a buyout from the European branch of HIG Capital, a company that has invested 5 billion (NZ$12.2 billion) in several dozen companies around the world.

FNZ was spun out of investment bank First NZ Capital. Its software is used by financial services firms, including Standard Life, Axa and BNZ, to manage investment portfolios worth more than 5 billion.

The company's management team and most of its 220 staff are based in Britain, from where two-thirds of its custom now comes.

But FNZ carries out all of its product development in Wellington where it employs 100 staff, including 32 in a research and development centre.

HIG said FNZ's annual turnover exceeded $20 million and it was profitable.

Mr Durham said it would be "business as usual" for FNZ following the buyout.

It intended to keep its development team in New Zealand, where it was recruiting 20 more staff, and would also hire in Britain.

FNZ's software is being implemented by investment bank JP Morgan and Mr Durham said it had a "very active pipeline of pending deals of a similar size in the UK", a number of which he expected to be completed this year.

He could not comment on whether the sale price was likely to be regarded as a positive outcome for shareholders, based on their investments.

"But they all approved, so I would assume so."

- © Fairfax NZ News