Paul Barrett

AZ NGA yesterday signed a binding sale and purchase agreement to acquire 51% of the capital of Harvest Wealth.

The agreement includes a share swap of 49% of Harvest Wealth’s equity for AZ NGA shares and a progressive buy back of these shares over the next ten years. This latest agreement follows the recently announced deals reached with Eureka Whittaker Macnaught, Pride Advice, Lifestyle Financial Planning Services, Financial Lifestyle Partners, and Wise Planners and is a continuation of AZ NGA’s objective of consolidating high quality Australian financial practices providing wealth management services to retail, HNW and institutional clients in Australia.

AZ NGA was established in November 2014 and is part of Azimut Group, Italy’s leading independent financial planning and asset management company, established in 1989 and today operating in 14 countries with more than $52 billion in AuM.

Harvest Wealth was created via a merger of three financial planning firms in 2006, and is led by its principals Lyn Heaysman and Matt Tuohey. Both Lyn and Matt have entered into long term contracts to ensure business continuity. Harvest Wealth is responsible for $166 million of funds under advice and operates out of and Victoria. Harvest Wealth provides a comprehensive range of financial planning services including investment and asset allocation advice, retirement planning, insurance, strategic financial planning advice and financial literacy services to its client base. Over the past decade the business has developed a sophisticated operational platform that enables efficient delivery of services and a highly consistent client experience.

For the past seven years Harvest Wealth has been the recipient of Financial Wisdom’s “Practice of the Year” award for South Australia, and won the National award in 2012. In 2015 the Harvest Wealth team won the highly sought after national award for “Quality” which reflects their commitment to achieving the highest standards of advice. The Mildura-based team has established great depth within their ranks with Jack Forbes being a previous recipient of Financial Wisdom’s “Centres of Influence” award, and in October this year Kylie George won the prestigious industry award “AFA Rising Star”.

Paul Barrett, AZ NGA CEO states: “Lyn and Matt run a modern, client-centric financial planning practice. They are committed to educating their clients, and their staff and provide an outstanding example of how a professional firm should be run.”

Lyn Heaysman said “We are proud of what our business has achieved for its clients and staff, and are very confident that the partnership with AZ NGA will enable this to continue for many years to come.”

Pietro Giuliani, Chairman and CEO of Azimut Holding, comments: “We are approaching the end of 2015 with a solid track record built in only 7 months of consolidating Australian financial practices. Our partnership approach, corporate values and and focus on growth is enabling AZ NGA to become a reference point for those quality financial planning firms driven by an entrepreneurial spirit. Our local management team is supported by a solid organization with a growing international reach, which closed the first nine months with the best net profit in Azimut history, overcoming the entire 2014 figure and on track to reach the 220-300 million euro net profit guidance given for the full year.”

AZ NGA announced its first acquisition on May 8^th, 2015, when it acquired Eureka Whittaker Macnaught. This was followed by the acquisition of the Pride Group on May 27^th 2015, Lifestyle Financial Planning Services on July 15 2015, Financial Lifestyle Partners on Sept 24 2015, Wise Planners on Oct 19 2015, and now Harvest Wealth. This latest deal is in line with AZ NGA long term business plan to continue to acquire high calibre businesses. AZ NGA has shortlisted a number of financial planning firms for further potential consolidation.

The post AZ Next Generation Advisory acquires Harvest Wealth appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Nick Hakes

The winner of the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) 2015 Excellence in Education Award (the Award), supported by Asteron Life, will be announced on Monday 26 October at the AFA National Adviser Conference in Cairns. The Award recognises advisers who are continually investing in themselves, their staff and their businesses, to raise professional standards through education.

The 2015 State Winners for the Award, announced throughout the AFA’s National Practitioner Roadshow, are:

• Karen Walmsley, Powe Financial Advice Pty Ltd (NSW)
• Jawad Ahmad, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management (SA)
• Charles Badenach, Main Street Financial Solutions (TAS)
• Lyn Heaysman, Harvest Wealth Pty Ltd (VIC)
• Joseph Hoe, Wealthwise Pty Ltd (WA)
• Tim Hall, Tilea Wealth Pty Ltd (QLD)

Nick Hakes, General Manager Member Services & Campus AFA said the calibre of the state winners reflects the recognition that higher education is one of the keys to delivering great advice to more Australians and positively influencing consumer perceptions of financial advisers.

“This is an exciting time for the financial advice profession. More and more advisers are embracing higher education and using it to demonstrate a point of difference,” he said. “Our state winners encapsulate everything that is great about financial advice – technical knowledge which is expertly applied to empowering the lives of others. This year’s finalists have demonstrated that the investment in education across a broad range of disciplines has made a positive difference to their clients and to their businesses.”

Mr Hakes said all of this year’s nominations were outstanding. “We are very proud of the talent that the Award has recognised to date and we are delighted to continue to partner with Asteron Life to showcase the outstanding attitudes, behaviours, standards and commitment to lifelong learning demonstrated by advisers like these state winners,” he said. “The AFA believes other advisers will be inspired by the state winners to invest in their own education, above and beyond what is required in terms of compliance, in order to ensure that they are giving their clients the best possible experience, while also raising professional standards within the financial advice profession.”

Asteron Life Executive Manager Mark Vilo said education plays a vital role in restoring consumer confidence in the financial planning industry and holds the key to ensuring a thriving future for advisers, life companies and licensees.

“Adviser education standards is a topic that has largely gone under the radar throughout the reform process. This award provides the perfect platform to showcase the level of professionalism and talent that exists in our industry and show to consumers that there is a commitment to ongoing education,” he said.

State winners of the Award are chosen for their commitment to professional development through continuing education and making a difference within the marketplace and their local community through the practical application of their knowledge and expertise.

Candidates are judged on the quality of their written nomination. Judges then conducted phone interviews with shortlisted candidates. Candidates are also given a weighting across four award criteria, including:

• 50% on formal education
• 30% on practical application of education
• 10% on contribution to one’s industry
• 10% on contribution to one’s community

The post AFA Excellence in Education Finalists announced appeared first on AdviserVoice.