Computershare expands Canada trust footprint

BNY Mellon has agreed to sell its Canadian corporate trust business to Australian wealthtech business Computershare for US$63.7 million (AU$97.7 million).

Announced to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) today, Computershare’s forthcoming buyout of the BNY Trust Company of Canada will expand its existing footprint in the Canadian market, which currently represents around 7% of the group’s revenue (more than its Australian and New Zealand businesses at 6%).

Computershare made its first foray into Canada and the US markets back in 2000, forming the Computershare Trust Company of Canada a year later.

The Computershare Trust Company of Canada provides transfer agency services, employee plans and trustee services to the Canadian securities industry.

Established in 2001 and headquartered in Toronto, BNY Trust Company of Canada boasts 1,800 corporate trust mandates, providing debt trustee, paying agency, escrow and other fiduciary offerings to Canadian issuers, corporations, banks and government entities.

Computershare recognised the BNY business for its “strong market reputation and long track record of profitability”. The acquisition is set to be completed in the second half of the 2024 calendar year.

Stuart Irving, Computershare chief executive and president, welcomed the acquisition as “another step in our strategy of redeploying capital to strengthen and scale our core growth divisions”.

Founded in Melbourne in the late 1970s, the ASX-listed Computershare employs more than 5,000 people worldwide, with offices in the US, UK, Europe, Canada and Asia Pacific region.