Paul Barrett

AZNGA has signed a binding sale and purchase agreement to acquire the entire capital of Empowered Financial Partners via its Australian subsidiary, AZ Next Generation Advisory Pty Ltd (AZNGA).

The agreement includes a share swap of 49% of EFP’s equity for AZNGA 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, Harvest Wealth, Wise Planners and RI Toowoomba and is a continuation of AZNGA’s objective of consolidating high quality Australian financial practices providing wealth management services to retail, HNW and institutional clients in Australia.

Empowered Financial Partners originally began trading in 1994 as Williamstown Financial Services and is led by its principals Jason Andrew, Bernie Cooney and Richard Owen who have entered into long term contracts to ensure business continuity.

Empowered Financial Partners is responsible for A$134 of funds under advice and operates out of Melbourne. Empowered Financial Partners provides values-based financial planning, which includes investment and asset allocation advice, retirement planning, insurance, strategic financial planning advice and financial literacy services to its client base.

Empowered Financial Partners was the recipient of the 2015 RI Advice Groups Platinum award. This award is given to the top ten practices of the RI group who demonstrate the strongest compliance, client centric and collaborative values amongst the 200 strong community of member firms.

Paul Barrett, AZNGA CEO states, “Jason, Bernie and Richard run an outstanding, full service financial planning practice with a strong value proposition for their clients. They are committed to developing a lifelong relationship with their clients and staff, and provide an outstanding example of how a professional firm should be run.”

Jason Andrew said, ”AZNGA’s long term vision and thinking resonates with the values of our business, as well as the approach we like to have with our clients. It’s a natural cultural fit and easy decision for us to be entering into a relationship with like-minded partners. Our experience with them so far has been very collaborative and we are excited to be transitioning now into the next phase as we continue to grow together for many years to come”.

Pietro Giuliani, Chairman and CEO of Azimut Holding, comments: “We are starting the year in building our Australian franchise from where we closed a successful 2015. After having achieved a record year at Group level in 2015, we are happy to continue attracting talented entrepreneurs to our partnership to develop further the business backed by a strong pipeline.”

AZNGA announced its first acquisition on May 8th, 2015, when it acquired Eureka Whittaker Macnaught. This was followed by the acquisition of the Pride Group in May 2015, Lifestyle Financial Planning Services in July 2015, Financial Lifestyle Partners in Sept 2015, Wise Planners in October 2015, Harvest Wealth of December 17th, RI Toowoomba in January 2017 , and now Empowered Financial Partners. This latest deal is in line with AZNGA long term business plan to continue to acquire high calibre businesses. AZNGA has shortlisted a number of financial planning firms for further potential consolidation.

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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.

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