E-Shares fails in bid to enter financial planning
Onlineshare trading group E-Shares has had its plans to push into the financial planning market thwarted after its agreement to purchase Norgard Clohessy Financial Planners (NCFP) was abandoned.
The two groups terminated the agreement last month after they did not see eye to eye on terms to meet the conditions of the sale.
In February, E-Shares agreed to pay $5.5 million in cash and 18.3 million in shares for the Perth-based planning group.
NCFP in turn entered into agreements to purchase two financial planning practices and an accounting practice in Melbourne, and a further financial planning practice in Perth.
NCFP managing director Patrick Canion has confirmed the group will push ahead with its planned acquisition of the four practices. Canion says the group will look for alternative sources of capital to fund the acquisitions in the wake of the failed agreement with E-Shares.
Neither E-Shares or NCFP was willing to comment on the specific reasons behind the breakdown of negotiations.
E-Shares managing director David Breeze says the group will now look to pursue other investment opportunities in the financial services industry.
Recommended for you
Large wealth management players are increasingly taking an opportunistic approach to their M&A deals rather than a strategic one, while a fear of missing out is driving smaller players to consider selling up.
More than $2 billion in investment activity was recorded for Australian fintech firms last year, according to KPMG, with the GDG/Lonsec acquisition proving to be a notable deal in the second half.
Praemium has stated it is seeking accretive acquisition opportunities in the area of non-custodial solutions where it believes it can further grow its dominant market share.
Iress chief executive Marcus Price has shared how he is seeing “massive tailwinds” in financial advice in Australia, with the firm turning its attention to digital advice following the completion of its transformation project.
