The merger between Total Financial Solutions Australia (TFSA) and Count Financial has reached its final stages of completion, following a temporary delay in proceedings.
The transaction, which is expected to be completed by the end of February 2010, will see the combined entity become one of the largest non-institutionally owned dealer groups in Australia.
While the merger has been in the final stages of due diligence for most of this year, it experienced a halt in proceedings due to potential changes to the regulatory environment, TFSA chief executive Phil Aris told InvestorDaily.
"It had been put on hold for a while because we were waiting for the recommendations from the Ripoll inquiry to come through just to see what the implications of that may be going forward because obviously that can affect valuations," he said.
"So it was put on hold for a little while but we are now full steam ahead and we expect to make the announcement early in the new year but, realistically, towards the end of February.
"Both sides have put a fair bit of effort into ensuring that we get the right outcome."
There would be no major company restructures as a result of the merged entity, Aris said.
"We had always made very clear that the important things we wanted to continue were our culture, our brand, our license, our management and our board, so all of that stays the same and nothing changes in that regard," he said.
"The ultimate outcome for us and for Count is that we maintain who we are, but we get the support from their networks."
