Weekly briefs

Rothschild revamp, Airport indices ETA, Europe the place to be, MortgagePlus relaunch, Quicken up your books.

Monday, July 13th 1998, 12:00AM

Rothschild Australia Asset Management (RAAM) is planning to up its presence in New Zealand with a revamped marketing team.
Former New Zealand manager Stephen Karrasch, who has been running RAAM's masterfund business in Sydney, will head up the new team.
"Rothschild sees unique opportunities in the New Zealand market where it can capitalise on our long term relationships with the master fund and financial planning industry," he says.
"We are planning a number of tailored activities and services to continue to build our relationships in New Zealand."
Rothschild is closing its Auckland office, and will service New Zealand from Sydney. Although the office is on the other side of the Tasman, RAMM anticipates it will be able to provide better access for planners and clients to resources and information by using technology.
"Rothschild remains committed to New Zealand, however our investment in real estate has been modified and swung to technology and people," Karrasch says.

Airport indices ETA
Auckland International Airport Ltd (AIA) will be introduced into its NZSE40 and NZSE30 indices on August 3, about a week after being listed on July 28.
It is expected there will be 420 million indexed AIA shares in the NZSE40, and 189 million in the NZSE-30.
The number of shares being offered could rise to up to 217 million if the government exercises an over-allotment option, and the weighting in the NZSE-30 would increase accordingly.
To make room for AIA on the indices, Sanford will be removed from the NZSE40 and Restaurant Brands New Zealand Ltd will disappear from the NZSE30.

Europe the place to be
Internationally diversified equity managed funds and European equity funds dominate the top of performance tables in the June quarter.
FPG Research says European equity funds took six of the top 10 placings in the three months to June 30 and four of the top 10 for the year.
Tower's Spotlight Europe Fund was number one for the quarter with a 14.13 per cent return after taxes and fees, while the Renouf International Equity Fund was number one for the year with a 64.17 per cent return net of fees and taxes.
FPG says that only two top 10 funds outperformed their relevant indices in New Zealand dollar terms for the year. They were the Renouf International and the Tower Tortis International funds.
The under-performance is blamed on currency hedging.

Tower MortgagePlus Income Fund relaunch
Tower Trust Services is to relaunch its MortgagePlus fund in a more tax effective group investment (GIF) fund structure on October 1.
It will be a category B GIF, therefore investors who provide Tower with their IRD number can have resident withholding tax deducted at 19.5 per cent.
The current unit trust MortgagePlus will be closed to all investors on September 30. On this date, following the quarter's distribution payment, all current investors will be automatically transferred to the new fund.
Nothing will change in terms of fees and mortgage portfolio management.

Quicken up your books
Intuit the company responsible for some of the world's most popular money management software packages is starting operations in New Zealand.
Its Quicken and QuickBooks programmes for personal and small business finance management software will soon be available in New Zealand versions.
New Zealand manager Dirk Zeilinga says it has taken some time for a New Zealand office to be opened. "Localised versions (of the software) are not far off and recent indications from accountants an small business owners and the home user have all be extremely positive," he says.
At tis stage professional accountants are the office's primary focus, Zeilinga says.
Intuit is offering a special trade in price for people wanting to convert from another software package to QuickBooks.

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