Bidding heats up as another buyer emerges for PIS

Four institutions are now in the running to buy Professional Investment Services (PIS) after another industry heavyweight threw its hat into the ring last week as the race to acquire Australia’s second largest dealer group heats up.

PIS has sent requests for proposals to four unnamed institutions, although managing director Grahame Evans said the group had not yet ruled out a public listing after surveying a report on the matter by Ernst and Young.

“We’ve asked them [interested groups] to come back to us by the end of November with formal written proposals, and we will then go through some face-to-face presentations with those organisations,” Evans said.

Previously, PIS had acknowledged that only three potential buyers were expected to put in formal bids for the group, but revelations of a fourth bidder last week will heat up competition for the group.

Evans stressed if a sale was agreed to as the best way forward, price would only be one component of the Queensland-based advice firm’s decision.

“We want to see the continuity of the business and how those organisations are planning to add value to our business as it’s not just about how we can add value to theirs’.

“It comes down to whether advisers will have the freedom to choose the best possible product for their client by having the flexibility to choose where they place investments on the platforms they use,” Evans told Money Management.

He said those groups that have signalled their intent to potentially buy the firm have assured PIS that advisers will retain freedom of choice in terms of where they place investments.

Meanwhile, Evans said the Ernst and Young report concluded “a trade sale from a value or price perspective would be the better way to go”.

However, at this stage he was unable to comment on what the outcome would be, but threw scorn on some of the market rumours.

“The conjecture in the industry is amazing, and some of the so-called sources being reported are so far off the mark.”