Wellington-based Booster Tahi has taken a 15.4% stake in Lifetime making it the second largest shareholder behind the Rothbury Group.

The directors of Tahi, Booster's managing director Allan Yeo and its chairman Paul Foley have been appointed directors on the Lifetime board.

Some concerns have been aired around related party transactions and conflicts of interest.

However, Yeo told Good Returns this issue was addressed when the investment was made.

Tahi recognised there was potential for concern and the transaction was done with "a lot of extra scrutiny" on an "arms length" basis.

"We were very careful about any potential conflict of interest."

"Booster Tahi cannot have any position in operational matters," he says.

He says Booster has "never set up quotas" with the advisory business. Advisers will use Booster funds when they are appropriate for clients and they can use other funds too.

Booster has had a long relationship with Lifetime. When Booster was called Grosvenor Financial Services it helped establish the Camelot financial planning group which was run by Peter Cave. Several years ago Camelot merged with Lifetime and Cave became the managing director of the enlarged group.

Yeo says Tahi sees a good future for Lifetime, and the group produces good recurring income. However, the business needed capital to grow hence the Tahi investment.

"Tahi is a really good option for Lifetime to grow," he says.

He also said that some of Lifetime's shareholders were wanting to exit and this investment provided an exit strategy for them.

Yeo says criticism of the deal is "the price for being innovative."

He says there is an attitude: "If it doesn't fit in the box they must be trying to trick us."