Fisher Funds' Huljich purchase price revealed

The purchase price of $20.9 million was revealed in financial statements filed recently with the Companies Office by HWM (NZ) Holdings, the company formerly known as Huljich Wealth Management.

This equates to about $240 for each of the roughly 87,000 members Fisher Funds picked up from the Huljich KiwiSaver scheme, with total funds under management of about $191 million at the time of purchase (just under $2200 per member).

Fisher Funds bought the Huljich scheme in March last year following controversy over related-party payments made at the direction of former Huljich Wealth Management managing director Peter Huljich that artificially boosted fund returns.

Huljich and HWM (NZ) Holdings were eventually convicted in the Auckland District on one charge each earlier this year after being prosecuted by the Financial Markets Authority (formerly the Securities Commission).