Equity Trustees sells Irish business

EQT Holdings has announced it has reached an agreement to sell its investment in its Irish business for €600,000 – €700,000.

In the same announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), the holding company of Equity Trustees has also said that a managed exit of the regulated activities conducted by the UK business has commenced, by transferring clients of the business to alternative Authorised Corporate Directors, allowing the UK business to focus on unregulated activities as Equity Trustees finalised its exit.

The company announced its plans to exit its investment in the UK and Ireland in August and its Irish business is being purchased via a management buyout led by Kevin Lavery, the chief executive of the Irish business, with additional investment from Ireland-based MFM Capital.

In June, the company also wrote-down the value of its stake in its UK and Ireland businesses but the managed exit of the UK business was not expected to complete until the end of FY24.

Equity Trustees’ managing director, Mick O’Brien, said the company would remain committed to its Australian market and would continue to strengthen  its corporate trustee services business in this market which still delivered “excellent value for all stakeholders”.