Investor Grouphas reached an in principle agreement to purchase Queensland accounting and financial planning business TCM Partners, rounding off a year of acquisitions for the financial planning group.
With offices in Townsville, Charters Towers and Innisfail, TCM is one of Queensland’s largest accounting firms, employing 55 staff and servicing over 2000 clients.
Investor Group managing director Kevin White says that Investor Group plans to work on the firm’s newly established financial planning operations, which are relatively underdeveloped with funds under advice of around $10 million.
“From a strategic perspective, the TCM transaction represents an important acquisition as it provides Investor Group with a major presence in the Far North Queensland region, which is generally regarded as an important future growth centre, as well as further strengthening Investor Group’s national network of regional firms,” White says.
White says Investor Group also intends to work with the TCM partners to identify other prospective firms in the region for acquisition.
The purchase will go ahead dependent upon the execution of a formal sale agreement and completion of due diligence by Investor Group, with settlement expected to be effective from July 1 2004.
Investor Group will purchase TCM with a cash payment and the issue of approximately 1.1 million Investor Group shares at an issue price of $2.40 each.
It has been a busy year of acquisition activity for Investor Group, with TCM the latest in a long line which has included four firms from the failed Stockford business, Adelaide firms Accumulus and Sanderson Blair, Sydney practice Williams Hatchman & Kean, and Curtis & Thomas and Stewart Ruge & Walsh in regional Victoria.
Investor Group chairman Terrence Power said, at the annual general meeting last month, that the group would continue to pursue growth through acquisitions during the next financial year.
