15 June 2006
Roger Kerr On Board For Rifleman Finance Group
Prominent New Zealand business leader and financial risk management specialist Roger Kerr has been appointed to the
Board of the recently launched Rifleman Finance Group as an independent director.
Backed by a wholesale co-investment funding arrangement with Fortress – the Sydney based affiliate of the New York fund
manager with some Twenty One Billion US dollars under management – Rifleman is a finance company with a robust
management team offering both senior and mezzanine debt in the property development industry.
Managing Director, Murray Greer, says he is delighted to have Mr Kerr on board because his wealth of merchant and
investment banking experience – together with his overall business and risk management expertise – will prove invaluable
in establishing Rifleman as an industry leader.
“A robust and highly skilled management team is an important point of difference for Rifleman, giving the company the
knowledge and the ability to deal with any property development funding requirement – with that ability comes
competitive advantage.
“We have assembled some of New Zealand’s best business and property finance executives to take us forward. The
experience of these people will ensure our success and Roger’s appointment strengthens our offering.
“He is one of New Zealand’s leading professional advisers and commentators on local/international financial markets, and
with the backing of that kind of knowledge we can only succeed,” said Mr Greer.
Mr Kerr said he was confident of Rifleman’s success.
“I have every confidence that Rifleman, with their depth of experience and industry knowledge – and with the
co-investment arrangement with the Sydney affiliate of Fortress Investment Group – will succeed in this competitive
environment.
“Rifleman has a very sound point of difference – founded on quality management experience, a personal, relationship
driven approach to clients and an appropriate risk management system,” said Mr Kerr.
On top of his 25 years merchant and investment banking experience, Mr Kerr has specialised since 1987 in providing
independent financial risk/treasury management advice to large corporate borrowers and companies with foreign exchange
risk.
Mr Kerr is a director and one third shareholder in Asia-Pacific Risk Management Limited. His other governance and
directorship roles include:
* Chairman of funds management company Trust Investments Management Ltd;
* Board Chairman of INFINZ;
* Board member of the National Provident Fund; and
* Advisory Board Member of the NZ Government’s Debt Management Office.
Mr Kerr’s track record includes establishing merchant bank, Bancorp’s Treasury Advisory Services, in 1987 and building
the business to a team of seven advisers in Australia and New Zealand and 120 retained clients by 1998.
In October 1998 he joined Deutsche Bank AG to head up the Risk Management Advisory team based in Auckland. In January
2001 Mr Kerr and partner Stuart
Henderson purchased Deutsche Risk Management Advisory Limited from Deutsche Bank, changing the company’s name to
Asia-Pacific Risk Management Limited.
Today Mr Kerr continues to advise many Australian and New Zealand companies in the specialist areas of foreign exchange
risk, interest rate and funding risk and treasury policy/governance matters.
He is also a member of the Institute of Directors and NZ Institute of Chartered Accountants.
About Rifleman
Rifleman Finance Group is a specialist provider of financial services to the property development and property
investment industries. The company operates at the upper end of the mezzanine finance market with a fully documented
lending policy.
ENDS