Investor Group expands in NZ
By Liam Egan
Listed planning dealer Investor Group is expanding further into the New Zealand market, announcing acquisition plans for mid-tier Auckland-based advice and accounting firm Gosling Chapman.
The deal builds on the Melbourne-based financial services group’s expansion within Australia, where it has made 21 tuck-in domestic acquisitions over the past 12 months, including Sydney-based firm MGI Wamstekers in September last year and Adelaide-based Financial Management Services in January this year.
The acquisition of Gosling Chapman is the firm’s second foray across the Tasman and will see it pay an undisclosed cash amount and issue 861,000 of its shares at $4.00 each.
In July 2001, Investor Group bought Cook Adam & Co, which has offices in New Zealand’s South Island centres of Queenstown, Invercargill, Wanaka and Te Anau.
Managing director Kevin White said Gosling Chapman would provide a “major North Island presence to complement the existing South Island operations of Cook Adam”.
White also flagged Investor Group’s intention to continue expanding its network in New Zealand to “four or five leading firms in major centres”.
The Gosling Chapman acquisition follows last week’s posting by Investor Group of a 25 per cent growth in interim operating revenue to $100 million for the first half of 2004-05, up from $80 million on the previous corresponding period.
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