Managed Accounts (formerly branded as Investment Administration Services) provides managed discretionary account administration and governance services to a number of boutique planning groups including Futuro Financial Services, Financial Clarity, Henderson Maxwell and Paradigm Wealth.
Speaking to InvestorDaily, Mr Heather echoed recent comments by Minter Ellison partner Chris Brown that the “tide is coming in” on independent acquisitions following a “flight to quality” to the big institutions since the global financial crisis.
“In the next couple of years the tide is definitely coming in. You can't stop an entrepreneurial sprit, and we match that. It's going to be important for everyone to differentiate themselves,” he said.
Just under half of Managed Accounts' clients are acquisitive, said Mr Heather.
“They’ve got a business model now that can sustain [the acquisitions] and they will actually make money out of them,” he said.
Managed Accounts executive chairman Don Sharp said planning groups such as Financial Clarity and Henderson Maxwell, which focus on self-managed superannuation business, have the capacity to pick up another $50 million with “no problems”.
Mr Sharp predicted that the financial planning industry would follow the same pattern as the accounting and legal professions.
“Everyone gravitates to the majors, and then the guys who have got any skills – the entrepreneurs – go out and try on their own. Take the accounting industry: There's the top four, and then you've got the medium-sized groups and then you've got 10,000 others,” he said.
Managed Accounts recently completed a $6.3 million capital raising, with listed investment company Argo Investments taking up a 'cornerstone' position.
The company plans to complete an initial public offering in the first quarter of 2014.
