In a dramatic escalation, the two directors who represent CDPQ and Generation on the Kiwi CayLP board, which are the largest shareholders in FNZ, have filed for an injunction in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands aimed at blocking a trustee entity – Kiwi CayLP – from pursuing a USD $4.6 billion class action in the High Court of New Zealand.
Kiwi CayLP represents a significant portion of FNZ’s employee equity and is leading the legal challenge against FNZ Group and 17 of its current and former directors.
The claim alleges that employee shareholders were unfairly diluted through the issuance of preference shares and warrants on non-commercial terms, transferring over USD $1.5 billion in value to institutional investors.
Despite FNZ publicly stating that the case is “entirely without merit” and that it welcomes scrutiny, its directors are now seeking to reverse the board decisions of Kiwi CayLP – effectively silencing the very employees whose equity is at stake.
This is despite neither board member turning up at either of the two board meetings concerned where this decision was taken, citing they were too busy.
“This is another attempt by FNZ and its Directors to stymie the efforts of employee shareholders to simply be heard in Court on the merits of their allegations,” said one FNZ employee shareholder.
“It’s particularly egregious in this case, since their sole job as directors of this partnership entity is to represent the interests of its members, being employee shareholders, a matter in which they are obviously conflicted.”
The injunction seeks to prevent Kiwi CayLP from bringing the claim in New Zealand, where the Companies Act 1993 provides robust protections for minority and employee shareholders. The move raises serious questions about CDPQ’s and Generation’s commitment to good governance, transparency and accountability.
Background Information
FNZ operates in the savings, investment and wealth management sector globally, combining technology, infrastructure and asset custody & transaction services in a single state-of-the-art platform. It partners with over 200 financial institutions in 20 countries, who customise the platform for their customers, comprising over 12,000 independent financial advice firms and over 26 million retail investors, holding in aggregate over US$1.6 trillion in investment assets through the FNZ platform.
FNZ is the core technology, transaction and service platform underpinning the consumer investment offerings of well-known financial institutions that include firms such as Aberdeen, Allianz, Aviva, AXA, Barclays, BMO, BNZ, Colonial First State, FirstCape, Lloyds Banking Group, Munich Re ERGO, NAB, Nucleus, Quilter, Santander, Swedbank, Swiss Life, UOB and Vanguard.
The FNZ platform enables those institutions to fully digitise their offerings, significantly reduce costs to themselves and their clients and improve choice and personalisation for consumers across all demographic segments, including the mass savings and retirement market, affluent advised and high-net worth.
FNZ was founded in 2003 in New Zealand and grew over 20 years to a business that last year reported over US$1.6 billion in revenue and employed over 6,000 people, operating principally in Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the UK, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden. The UK is FNZ’s largest market, with over 60% of all UK platform assets advised and managed through a FNZ-powered platform, and FNZ customers such as Quilter, Aviva, Aberdeen, Lloyds and Nucleus leveraging FNZ capability to dominate inflows by financial advice firms into investment platforms in the UK.
The company has consistently attracted strong investment, including historically blue-chip private equity investors H.I.G. Capital and General Atlantic, as well as its current shareholders comprising institutional investors Temasek, Canadian pension funds CDPQ and CPP Investments, Generation Investment Management and Motive Partners, alongside around 2,700 current and former employees who own approx. 30% of the ordinary equity.
Stay Ahead of the Financial Curve with Our Latest Fintech News Updates!
