Despite allegations of misconduct against KKR, the private equity firm who acquired 55% of Colonial First State (CFS) from the Commonwealth Bank (CBA), the bank believes the partnership with KKR will bring significant benefits to its superannuation members.
Answering a question on notice, CBA said it considered KKR as a future shareholder and the benefits KKR could offer CFS and its members were significant investments.
The question from Labor’s Andrew Leigh pointed to:
The answer from CBA said: “CBA believes the KKR partnership will bring significant member benefits through a commitment to invest in a range of transformation initiatives including:
CBA also said it undertook its standard “buyer due diligence procedures” prior to the transaction including Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering and Economic Trade and Sanctions checks.
“The superannuation funds within Colonial First State are managed by a trustee with a majority independent board whose primary duty is to members of its fund. All super funds in Australia are strictly regulated under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act.”
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