National advice firm Invest Blue has announced several acquisitions, including the purchase of an estate planning and wealth protection business.
Lambert Group offers a range of services, including financial planning, insurance and estate planning, with offices located in Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane.
Led by senior risk adviser Ron Lambert, the business was founded in 1969. It also provides wills and estates, aged care advice, and business succession planning.
“The acquisition of the Lambert Group is a key acquisition in our strategy to become Australia’s trusted home of great advice,” described David Stephen, Invest Blue’s managing director.
Stephen said the deal follows two separate acquisitions: the purchase of Australia’s third-largest provider of aged care advice, Beacon Aged Care Group, and a Sunshine Coast-based mortgage finance business, Mason Finance.
He continued: “We are in the advice business and believe it is critically important Australians have a known and trusted brand where they can get comprehensive advice on all aspects of their financial situation, so that they can maximise the chance of them living their best possible life, via trusted advice from trusted advisers.
“Ron Lambert and the team at the Lambert Group bring enormous experience in wealth protection advice, and will lead Invest Blue’s focus on ensuring Australians get the right wealth protection advice, to ensure they are adequately protected, as under insurance remains the biggest threat to the vast majority of Australians’ financial objectives.”
Money Management previously spoke with the managing director on how Invest Blue is harnessing the power of outsourcing to achieve its growth aspirations.
Since it first began using outsourced administrative services in 2015, Invest Blue has grown from 11 offshore staff and 35 onshore team members to now 190 offshore and 310 onshore.
The company is seeking to increase its client base from 14,500 Australians currently to 60,000 as a long-term ambition.
Stephen said in October: “Our big dream is to empower 60,000 Australians to live the best possible life. We’re not going to get there at the moment with the current supply of advisers and current inefficiencies in the system, so if we get some efficiency [through outsourcing], it allows us to provide more advice to more Australians and that’s really what our purpose is all about.
“Our vision is about creating a trusted home of great advice. [Outsourcing] has allowed us to build a business that is of significant scale.”
Another M&A announcement made by Invest Blue was its merger with Ironbark Asset Management, which reached completion in November 2023. The merged entity has over $64 billion in funds under management, trusteeship and advice, and more than 500 staff.
