ASB and ASB Community Trust end long-term relationship

Wednesday, 22 October 2014, 3:05 pm
Press Release: ASB Bank

ASB and ASB Community Trust end long-term sponsorship relationship

ASB and the ASB Community Trust have reached a mutual agreement to end their long-term sponsorship relationship. The ASB Community Trust was formed in 1988 with the proceeds of the staggered sale of ASB to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. 45 million shares were initially sold to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for $252 million. In 2000, the remaining 25% shareholding was sold to the Commonwealth Bank for $560 million. Income from the capital generated from the sale of its shares in ASB has been used by the ASB Community Trust to make grants worth almost $900 million since its formation. In the intervening years, ASB’s ongoing support has helped to minimise the extent to which the income from the ASB Community Trust’s investments is used to meet its running costs.

“We’ve enjoyed a very rewarding and productive sponsorship with the ASB Community Trust since the Trust sold the remainder of its shares in the Bank in 2000, and will always be proud of the history we have shared,” says ASB Chief Executive Barbara Chapman. “ASB is proud of the contribution that it has made to the ASB Community Trust and, through the Trust, to the communities of Auckland and Northland. It is great to see the Trust in such a strong position today.”

“However, with our sponsorship agreement due for renewal, this became the catalyst for us to consider our commercial relationship and whether contributing to the ASB Community Trust’s operating costs represented the best and most effective use of our community investment. As a consequence of this, the current sponsorship arrangement with the ASB Community Trust has now finished.”

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ASB Community Trust Chief Executive Jennifer Gill said the Trust appreciates the Bank’s role in the genesis and history of the Trust. “We have enjoyed our association but changing priorities for the Bank and the Trust has seen a mutual decision to end the association. While we will no longer be financially involved with the Bank, we know it will continue to make a strong contribution to our communities,” says Jennifer Gill.

“The ASB Community Trust is a well-funded, independent organisation with a long heritage of funding not-for-profit organisations and community projects for our region and this good work will continue. The endowment from the sale of the community’s interest in ASB now stands at over a billion dollars which allows us to return over $30 million a year to Auckland and Northland communities, as well as reinvest to protect the value of the fund for future generations.”

“The end of our sponsorship relationship with the ASB Community Trust has given us a unique opportunity to consider how and where we should be directing our community investment programme,” Barbara Chapman says. “It allows us to think big and take a national approach as opposed to concentrating on the limited geographic area within which the ASB Community Trust can operate. It is our intention to focus our financial resources and the efforts of our people on the issues that are most important to New Zealanders.”

ENDS

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