New Zealand’s Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) has sold subsidiary company Catalyst Risk Management to Australian workers’ compensation manager Employers Mutual.

The sale gives Employers Mutual a foothold in New Zealand prior to the ACC’s personal injury scheme being opened to the private sector.

Catalyst provides specialist injury management and has 38 staff in four offices.

ACC Chairman John Hodge says Catalyst was sold to allow the corporation to focus on its core business.

Employers Mutual operates in NSW and SA, and CEO Tony Middlebrook says Catalyst “is the ideal vehicle for the company to move into the New Zealand market”.