Shares in investment management firm Challenger Ltd [ASX:CGF] rose by nearly 2.5% today, outperforming a mildly positive broader market. This price action marks new all-time highs for Challenger.
We’ve known for a while that Challenger has been eyeing the European funds management industry as a potential source of new earnings growth.
This morning it was reported that Challenger has recently inked a superannuation deal with a European company.
Challenger has taken over the management of a book of defined benefit pensions of a large European financial institution.
Defined benefit schemes offer members a guaranteed pension payment based on their length of service and final salary. In Australia they’ve been largely replaced by defined contribution funds, but that’s not the case in other parts of the world like the US and Canada.
This book of pensions covers the retirement savings of about 100 members, and is worth less than $25 million.
Free Reports:
That might sound like small potatoes for Challenger. But Richard Howes, chief executive of Challenger’s Life business, explained the rationale, saying, ‘It is not a big transaction but it is important…it sets an example to other defined benefit scheme trustees who may want to de-risk their fund.’
The market seems to agree that the defined benefit market looks like an attractive source of revenue growth and has marked the shares up nicely today.
Challenger is a successful company that investors should still consider, notwithstanding the rise in its share price over the past year.
In addition to the growth options the company is exploring that I’ve described above, Challenger remains strongly leveraged to a demographic trend that should continue to play out for years to come…more Australian retirees demanding annuities and wealth management services.
This stock could continue to reward patient investors well into the future.
Tim Dohrmann+
Small-Cap Analyst, Australian Small-Cap Investigator