Another dealer group stake for Aviva

Aviva has bought a minority stake in a new national dealer group headed up by Brett Sanders.

Boutique asset consultancy firm Grove Financial Services, which Sanders joined in 2003 as chief executive, has also taken a stake in the new firm AG Private Advisory (AGPA).

The group will start with 12 advisers in all mainland capital cities.

Aviva’s general manager administration Frank Lombardo and national key account manager Dale Wright will join the board of AGPA.

Sanders, the group chief executive officer, said it had an established client base of individuals and small businesses.

“Aviva provides not only capital, but high quality services we can tap into that will help us grow AGPA to be a prominent player in the Australian market,” he said.

It is expected AGPA will become a Navigator user as well as selling Aviva risk products, general manager marketing Tim Cobb said.

This latest stake in dealer groups follows investments by Aviva in PIS, Meritum and Infocus.

Cobb said this was a continuing strategy of making strategic investments in financial advice businesses.

“Investment markets are currently volatile, which will bring new opportunities as Aviva has the financial strength to look for strategic acquisitions,” he said.

“Our strategy is performing well and we continue to seek new investments.”

Cobb said the business model of the new group was complementary to its other investments in dealer groups.

“These investments are also useful for us to see how our service offerings to advisers are performing,” he said.

“We get honest feedback from the groups on what we are doing, which keeps us on our toes.”

The Aviva Group in Australia now has a client base of more than 300,000, with in excess of $27 billion of funds under management and administration.