PIS to expand as US joint venture deal fails
ProfessionalInvestment Services(PIS) has seen its plan to buy 50 per cent of a US dealer group fall through after negotiations faltered during the due diligence process.
The joint venture deal, to have launched PIS into the US market, was ended after PIS chief executive Robbie Bennetts says it was made aware of the level of debts of the potential US partner.
Negotiations with the 65-employee dealer group had been underway since June this year.
“It is very disappointing to have done all the work we have done, see it go right down to the wire, and then find out about these other borrowings at the end,” Bennetts says.
However, Bennetts says PIS will push ahead with plans to move into the US by starting up its own operation from scratch within the next month.
The US business will be based in Los Angeles and headed up by Rod Allen, who was involved in starting up Adviser Investment Services (AIS) in Australia.
PIS USwill begin a marketing campaign in December and plans to have 35 offices around the US by the end of its first year of operation.
The PIS dealer group also has its eyes set on the Asia Pacific region, planning to open up offices in Hong Kong within the month.
After establishing an Asia Pacific base in Singapore in July 2001 under the name of Professional Investment Advisory Services, Bennetts says it is ready to expand further within the region.
The Asian PIS base will remain in Singapore under the leadership of managing director Greg Whimp.
PIS has begun to market itself in Hong Kong in preparation for the expansion, sponsoring the World Congress of Accounting Educators held this week in Hong Kong.
The Asian arm of PIS also won a recent victory in the region after the Singapore Government changed local legislation to enable accountants and financial planners to receive income from commissions in the same way as the Australian model.
The group is also off to a tentative beginning in Canada, having established an operation under the Sun Life financial planning arm, Iqon.
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