Securitor aligned Aspire moves for growth

St George Bank owned dealer Securitor has lost planning group Aspire Financial Services after the Melbourne-based boutique struck a deal with Snowball Group - a move the chief executive of Aspire says will enable the group to swim as a bigger fish in a smaller pond.

For Aspire, the alliance signals the end of a decade long tenure as an authorised representative of Securitor, although Aspire chief executive Scott Brouwer says it will be business as usual as Aspire will continue to use the group’s dealer services.

“Snowball uses a lot of the Securitor systems and platforms, so there was real synergy between the two,” Brouwer says.

Aspire, which has four offices in Melbourne’s east and south east, will be able to open an office in the city’s central business district.

As part of the deal, Aspire will take an up-front cash consideration and an initial share issue of around one million Snowball shares.

Further shares will be made to the Aspire proprietors based on revenue growth after one year.

Brouwer says although the alliance with the St George owned Securitor was successful, there are benefits to aligning with a smaller dealer group.

“Advantages are definitely ownership and the ability to measure the contribution the business is making,” Brouwer says.

“There is also the independence in the ownership. Before we were a small fish in an extremely large pond, and now we are still a small fish, but in a much smaller pond,” he says.

Snowball shares last traded at 36 cents.