Automic acquires share registry

Perth-founded Automic Group has become Australia’s third-largest share registry after acquiring its competitor, Security Transfer Australia (STA).

Automic said its specialty transition team of 23 people completed the transition of clients during the past weekend.

It migrated 139 clients and more than 970,000 shareholders from the STA platform to Automic.

Automic managing director Paul Williams said the transition was a new record for the Australian registry market.

“As a result, we are now the 3rd largest share registry provider in Australia and provides services to over 590 ASX listed companies,” he said.

STA chief executive Alex Anastasakis said the most important consideration in making this decision was it would be a seamless process for clients.

“The technology of the Automic Group is superior to all other registry providers in the market and the clients are in safe hands,” he said.

The sale followed a decision by the family owners of STA to retire.

The terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.

Automic Group was founded in 2012 by its executive director, Ben Kay.

The market leaders in the share registry business in Australia are Computershare and Link Market Services.

Other competitors include ASX-listed Advanced Share Registry, based in Nedlands.

For the year to June 2019, Advanced Share Registry reported a slump in revenue to $5.2 million and net profit to $1.4 million, citing the fall in new ASX listings and tight trading conditions.