Roy has over 30 years of Australian and international business experience, spanning technology, communications, financial services and superannuation.

Her previous roles include Chief Executive Officer, Bravura Solutions, Managing Director, Business at Optus, and Managing Director, PayPal Australia and New Zealand.

Roy was also formerly Director, Corporate Super at AMP and General Manager, Financial Planning at iPac.

She is currently a Non-executive Director of Titles Queensland and an Advisory Board Member at business consultancy, Lineaire Projects.

Chairman of AZ NGA, Massimo Guiati said Roy bought expertise, insights and governance experience from different companies and Boards, operating in a diverse range of industries and sectors.

“Libby is a proven business leader who is highly respected for her strategic thinking, professionalism, and track record of driving growth and innovation inside the organisations that she has led,” he said.

“Libby shares AZ NGA’s passion to see more Australians get access to quality, affordable advice and achieve their goals, and we are extremely pleased to have her join the Board.”

Roy said her diverse experience and background with businesses of all sizes, particularly in highly regulated industries, positioned her strongly to serve on the AZ NGA Board.

“Over the past 30 years, I’ve built and led a number of businesses in the wealth management sector including financial planning, superannuation and sector-specific technology,” she said.

“A consistent focus throughout has been guiding organisations to scale sustainably – combining commercial discipline with a commitment to innovation and long-term value.”

“AZ NGA is a purpose-led professional services firm with strong values and a clear growth ambition. I’m energised by the opportunity to support its next chapter, bringing my experience to help shape strategic direction and support its talented team.”

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Paul Barrett

AZ Next Generation Advisory (AZ NGA) and Azimut have completed the sale of a majority interest in AZ NGA to funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management L.P, (“Oaktree”).

As part of the transaction, which was previously announced on September 30, 2024:

• Oaktree has invested $240 million in AZ NGA to become the group’s largest shareholder.
• Azimut, management and business owners retain a strategic stake in the company.
• AZ NGA, Azimut and Oaktree are committed to working together to accelerate M&A activity, drive organic growth and cement AZ NGA’s position as Australia’s finest professional services company.

Paul Barrett, AZ NGA Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are extremely privileged and excited to work with a world class strategic investor like Oaktree”.

“We have ambitious goals to triple in size over the 3-5 years, through a combination of M&A and organic growth, and our strategic partnership with Oaktree gives us the capital to fund our short-to-medium term plans and continue enhancing our proposition to accounting and advice businesses,” he said.

“In the next 12 months, our focus is on accelerating our Super firm program, ramping up M&A activity, key transformation initiatives and continuing to elevate to a highperformance culture.”

Byron Beath, Oaktree Managing Director, said: “AZ NGA has successfully enabled business owners and their clients to simultaneously grow their practices while effectively managing ownership succession, which is critical for the natural evolution of quality businesses”.

“This achievement is a testament to the exceptional leadership of Paul and his team,” he said.

“By providing additional capital through this transaction, AZ NGA will further enhance their ability to execute on their plan of organic and inorganic growth, empowering their talented staff to be the national leader of providing financial advice and services.”

Massimo Guiati, Azimut Holding Chief Executive Officer and AZ NGA Chairman, said: “Azimut is committed to AZ NGA for the long-term and we look forward to working with Oaktree to drive the growth and success of AZ NGA”.

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Andrew Davies

As part of its broader asset management strategy AZ Sestante launched the Sestante Global Macro Fund (the Fund) on 1st September 2017. This is the first fund offered by AZ Sestante that utilises the investment management capabilities of its parent Azimut and their Luxembourg based investment management business AZ Funds Management S.A.

The portfolio advisor for the Fund is Massimo Guiati, who has been responsible for the strategy since 2008 when he joined Azimut. Massimo has over 20 years experience in investing with a background in derivatives trading and currently advises assets in excess of EUR1Billion across a number of funds and employs a top-down investment approach focussing on macro-economic themes and fundamental market analysis to identify opportunities within some of the most liquid financial markets globally.

The Fund gains its investment exposure by investing into the Australian dollar (’AUD’) denominated class of units, of the AZ Multi Asset Institutional Macro Dynamic Trading Fund (’Underlying Fund’), a Luxembourg domiciled fund managed by AZ Fund Management S.A. (’AZ Fund Management’). The Fund aims to outperform the RBA Cash Rate +2% p.a. before fees with volatility of less than 4% and low correlation to traditional financial markets over rolling 1 year periods. The Underlying Fund has generated an AUD return of just over 9% per annum with an annualised volatility of approximately 3.6% since its inception in January 2009.

AZ Sestante Head of Distribution, Andrew Davies said “It is exciting to be able to showcase Azimut’s global investment capabilities. We have listened to advisers as to the type of investment product they are looking for and high quality, daily liquid, uncorrelated, defensive type funds are definitely on their wish list.”

Massimo Guiati, Advisor, stated “The Fund operates under a highly flexible mandate leveraging trends in global equity, commodity, fixed income and FX markets. The fund looks to be lowly correlated to traditional financial markets with the ability to profit in both up and down markets. Another key feature of the strategy is that it provides daily liquidity.”

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