Towers Perrin & Russell Announce a 'SuperSolution' Alliance (Russell.com)

Towers Perrin & Russell Announce a 'SuperSolution' Alliance

SYDNEY, 9 October 2002 — Towers Perrin and the Frank Russell Company ("Russell") today announced an alliance to provide a more comprehensive and cost effective superannuation service for Australian clients. Through this alliance Towers Perrin and Russell will jointly market SuperSolution to those clients seeking a bundled outsourced solution. The business alliance brings together the leading provider of multi-manager investment solutions and the leading provider of superannuation services in Australia.

Under SuperSolution, Towers Perrin administers the fund, provides all actuarial and member services, insurance management, secretariat and trustee services, and for those clients seeking a pooled investment approach Russell provides access to their expertise in manager selection, manager monitoring and multi-manager fund construction.

Announcing the arrangement, Towers Perrin Managing Director, David J Solomon commented that a growing number of funds are looking for a fully bundled service which allows them to outsource the investment decision making, and utilise the economies of scale provided by pooling. Further, there is an increasing demand for real-time reporting and member investment decision making, which requires close linkages between funds management and member services.

"This business alliance allows us to continue to develop and further expand our traditional asset consulting services, leveraging Russell's manager research efforts, while expanding our service offering to satisfy those clients seeking a bundled investment service," said Mr Solomon.

"Globally Towers Perrin has taken the decision not to build multi-manager capabilities in-house. Rather we will use a best-in-class provider to deliver this bundled service. In the Australian market this is clearly Russell. To my knowledge no other firm devotes as much experienced resources to the research and management of investment managers as Russell," said Mr Solomon.

"Our new business alliance positions both companies for growth through providing a more comprehensive and cost effective superannuation service," continued Mr Solomon.

According to Alan Schoenheimer, Managing Director of Frank Russell Australasia, superannuation funds are facing a number of key drivers at present. "Superannuation in Australia is being re-shaped by legislative and compliance requirements, the proposed introduction of choice of fund, the growing financial sophistication of members and their quest for the right investment choice, plus the recent volatility in the investment markets."

"In such an environment an increasing number of super funds are quite sensibly taking the outsourcing route. But we warn buyers to beware. There are a range of outsourcing offerings in the market. Not all provide clients with high quality service, flexibility and the ability to maintain control," he said.

"Our active joint commitment to the SuperSolution model is firmly based on delivering each of those core principles. We're very confident that the combination of services, skills, experience and expertise we bring together gives our clients the building blocks they need to develop and maintain a best-in-class superannuation service for their members, while also satisfying their organisational needs for value and risk management," said Mr Schoenheimer.

Mr Solomon also commented that the new business alliance is a natural progression. It follows the successful joint management of the BHP Billiton Superannuation Fund, BHP Steel Superannuation Fund and Fujitsu Super Fund.

Russell was recently named the largest global manager-of-managers in Cerulli Associates' July 2002 Report. They provide investment products and services in more than 35 countries. Russell manages more than A$135 billion in assets and advises clients worldwide representing approximately A$3.5 trillion. Founded in 1936, Russell is a subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual and is headquartered in Tacoma, Washington USA, with additional offices in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Auckland and Tokyo.

Towers Perrin is one of the world's largest management and human resource consulting firms. The firm has worldwide revenues of over US$1.4 billion and over 9,000 employees and 78 offices in 74 cities worldwide. In Australia, Towers Perrin is the pre-eminent provider of employee benefit services to Australia's largest organisations. They advise organisations on:

Superannuation design and management
Administration of employee benefits
Actuarial services
Investment strategy and portfolio construction
Employee benefits communication and education

Contacts: Dianne Cleary, Towers Perrin on 02 9229 5538 or 0417 669 733 and Craig Morris, Russell on 02 9770 8000 or 0413 274 037.

Alan Schoenheimer, Managing Director, Frank Russell Australasia, and David J Solomon, Managing Director, Towers Perrin, Australia, talk about this new business alliance in the latest Russell Update (PDF).

Frank Russell Company, a Washington, USA Corporation, operates through subsidiaries worldwide. This news release is issued by Russell Investment Management Ltd ACN 068 338 974 and Towers Perrin.