It’s been an eventful and progressive time for us since our last newsletter and we’ve reached some exciting milestones. Most notably of these, I’m pleased to announce, is the opening of our new premises in Christchurch.

There’s an interesting story about these premises. In the days following the earthquake, Bryan Mogridge who was at that point the Chair of Perpetual, now Chair of PGC, and I were driving (bumping) along the roads in the outlying areas of Christchurch. Our premises were destroyed and we were resolute in our commitment to a Christchurch local office but anyone who was in the area or listened to the news knew that office buildings were an increasingly rare commodity.

As we were driving, we passed a used car lot along Lincoln Road in Addington which drew Bryan’s attention; it had a ‘For Sale’ sign on it.

Within a matter of hours, we were the proud owners of a used car lot; how we would develop this to a financial services premise was another matter. Luckily we had our very keen team in Christchurch who were quite clear on what they wanted and, working through mandatory requirements, our team’s needs and their dedication in making it happen, we were able to move into these offices in August.

Around the same time, our Auckland team also moved into new offices - five floors up to Level 17 in the AMP Centre at 29 Customs St. West in the CBD. This is an exciting move as it brings together our growing Auckland team under one roof and allows us to work more closely and collaboratively. We look forward to seeing you in our new locations. A final milestone for us is that our entire adviser team have received their Financial Markets Authority (FMA) adviser qualifications. (Tracey-Lee Pettifer, our Head of Adviser Services, discussed the implications of the new adviser regulations in our last newsletter.)

While I’m pleased that we met, and in most cases qualified ahead of the deadline set by the Financial Markets Authority, I’m a little hesitant to herald this. This is not because I don’t find it important but because I see it as so important that financial advisory clients should be able to simply take for granted that an adviser is completely qualified, knowledgeable and looking after a client’s best interests. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case, so we encourage you to do your homework before determining with whom you’ll invest.

Another bit of news… many of you will have read that Pyne Gould Corporation, our parent company, has had a takeover bid for 100% ownership from Australian Equity Partners. The offer has undergone an independent assessment, and PGC independent directors, Bruce Irvine and Chair, Bryan Mogridge, have reviewed and provided a formal opinion on the offer to shareholders. This, as well as the target company statement and independent appraisal report, can be found on the PGC website - www.PGC.co.nz

For those of you who hold shares in PGC, you will each need to assess whether or not to take up the offer, based on your own circumstances, as well as taking into account the findings of the report. We recommend you discuss this first with your investment adviser. From a Perpetual operational perspective, we are business as usual and don’t foresee any material changes as a result of potential PGC ownership structure change.

As we head into holidays, I’d like to wish you all a Happy Christmas. I’m sure we’re all hoping that 2012 is a happier one for New Zealand.