Several advice practices are considering joining a powerful buying group managed by ex-Tynan McKenzie boss Tony Fenning.
The group of privately-owned businesses was having a lot of contact with a number of other boutiques, Fenning said.
“It’s a very high-quality group of people we’re gathering together,” he said.
Further announcements about the group’s plans are expected to be made later this year.
The group added another notch to its belt earlier this month after gaining Perth practice Keysbrook Financial Services.
Keysbrook, headed by Simon Joyner, joins high-end practices Douglas Wenck, Ellwood Barry McPherson, Gannon Growden Schonell and Associates, Guest McLeod, Heraud Harrison, Kilkenny Rose and Associates and Taylor Shadforths in an alignment known as the Best Advice project.
Keysbrook will add its 3000 clients with $350 million in funds under advice to the group, which boasts a combined client base of 20,000 and $7.5 billion under management.
Gannon Growden Schonell and Keysbrook were planning to merge their operations within three years, Gannon Growden Schonell director Sam Gannon said.
The firms, which have offices across Australia, are using the weight of their client base to receive generous pricing from fund managers, professional indemnity insurance and back-office providers.
The Money Managers, headed by industry stalwart Kevin Bailey, has been closely aligned to the group for a number of years and is part of a white label arrangement with BT Wrap.
The business was still involved in many ways with the group but had not joined the project, Money Managers chief executive Rob Jones said.
“We will possibly make an announcement in [a] few months,” Jones said.
The project recently commissioned accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and lawyers Clayton Utz to advise them on growth strategies, including an option of listing later this year.
It has also developed a national compliance program to cut down duplication in systems and processes.
Fenning said the group recently held discussions with most of the major financial planning software providers but would stick with Iress-owned VisiPlan for at least the next 12 months.
