AFS negotiating to acquire two small dealer groups
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Dealer group Australian Financial Services (AFS) is currently in negotiations to acquire two small dealer groups following a failed bid to merge with Total Financial Solutions Australia (TFSA).
AFS director Peter Daly said AFS is currently “doing due diligence on one small dealer group and that merger negotiations are in the early stages with a second”.
The negotiations are taking place against the background of the rejection of two merger offers by AFS to dealer group TFSA over the past 18 months.
Meanwhile, Daly said so far this financial year AFS has recruited 24 advice practices to its brand, including eight from TFSA, representing about 43 new advisers.
The new firms have added about $16 million in additional revenues for AFS, with each firm contributing $670,000 on average, well over AFS’ average revenue target of between $300,000 to $500,000.
However, Daly also acknowledged having lost two practices in the period, which he described as an incredibly fluid market for the recruitment of advice firms.
He said AFS was still on track to post a record profit for 2008-09 at this stage of the financial year, although profit was down in January about 50 per cent and 65 per cent for February.
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