Trust Company of Australia (Trust) has unveiled plans to expand into the Asian market by opening offices in both Hong Kong and Singapore in a move to becoming a trustee of real estate investment trusts (REITs).
Trust managing director, Jonathan Sweeney, said the move comes on the back of strong results after Trust redirected the company to focus on its core capabilities in trustee and fiduciary areas.
“We’ve been looking at doing this for a while, but what really piqued our interest is the growth rates in Asian REITs. The regulatory environment in Hong Kong and Singapore is similar to what the regulatory environment was before the Managed Investments Act came in Australia, so we had core skills to be trustees in REITs,” he said.
Sweeney added that the opportunities are there because a number of their existing Australian clients are looking to launch REITs in Asia.
“We see them looking at the area and we have strong growth in this core capability so it made sense for us to seriously look at it,” he said.
Sweeney said Trust are currently finalising discussions with regulators and expect to open for business in coming months.
“It’s our first overseas venture, which is quite exciting,” he said.
“We will open one office in Singapore and one in Hong Kong and will send two key employees to set up the fiduciary business.”
Sweeney added that the company has taken three years to redirect in the area of fiduciary services and financial services products, such as wealth transfer planning and personal injury, both launched within the last eight months.
Trust also announced strong February results with a 32 per cent increase in group ongoing EBITDA for the year to 28 February 2006 and a net profit after tax of $27.1 million.
Kate Hage
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