CountPlus to gain 359 advisers from Count Financial
Almost all (99.8%) CountPlus shareholders have voted in favour to acquire Count Financial from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
In an announcement, CountPlus said it would acquire Count Financial for $2.5 million, which would provide $200 million indemnity for certain pre-acquisition advice.
Count Financial is the Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) licensee of 160 practices that comprises of 359 advisers.
The announcement also said that CBA intended to sell down its 35.9% stake in CountPlus.
CountPlus chief executive, Matthew Rowe, said: “We have long been believers that there are clear benefits in businesses that provide both accounting services, and financial advice”.
“We are encouraged by the clear support from our shareholders for this transaction and look forward to returning Count Financial to the CountPlus business,” he said.
“We will work hard to ensure that all Count Financial firms fit the CountPlus ‘family photograph’ and align with our key objective of making a decent profit, decently.”
This announcement comes at the same time as CBA’s intent to close its Financial Wisdom license in June 2020.
Recommended for you
Unregistered managed investment scheme operator Chris Marco has been sentenced after being found guilty of 43 fraud charges, receiving the highest sentence imposed by an Australian court regarding an ASIC criminal investigation.
ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of Sydney-based Arrumar Private after it failed to comply with the conditions of its licence.
Two investment advisory research houses have announced a merger to form a combined entity under the name Delta Portfolios.
The top five licensees are demonstrating a “strong recovery” from losses in the first half of the year, and the gap is narrowing between their respective adviser numbers.
