Western Pacific ups Snowball stake
Perth-based dealer group Western Pacific has further boosted its presence on the eastern seaboard by lifting its holding in listed financial planning firm Snowball from 9 per cent to 19.49 per cent.
The $2.75 million purchase has made Western Pacific the second largest shareholder of Snowball behind private equity group Equity Partners, and will allow it to expand its funds management capabilities into planning markets in Sydney and Melbourne.
Western Pacific bought the 10.49 per cent chunk of Snowball from listed investment company Trent Capital, whose major shareholder and managing director, Trent Brown, is also the chairman of Snowball.
He said Trent decided to sell its entire interest in Snowball for “personal strategic reasons”.
Brown will hold onto his post as chair of Snowball despite selling all of his interest in the group.
He said Western Pacific was selected as the best buyer because “ . . . we were keen to make sure the stake went to people we were happy with”.
He said Western Pacific was glad to have him stay on as chair of Snowball to make sure “people on the board were close to the company”.
Western Pacific took its first 9 per cent of Snowball on September 1 this year.
The move came after Snowball issued a $3.4 million new capital raising in order to finance the $5 million cost of its decisions to take a 25 per cent stake in Queensland Teachers’ Credit Union Financial Planning and buy Outlook Financial Planning, the advice arm of the Melbourne-based MECU credit union.
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