Certe has acquired financial advisory business, Genesis Financial Partners, to create a large, integrated professional services firm with 20+ staff including nine advisers.
The deal will significantly expand Certe’s risk insurance and employee benefits business, and bring additional capability in holistic financial advice and wealth management.
The combined group’s client base, which includes many large legal and professional services firms, will gain access to a broader range of advisory solutions under one roof.
According to Jeremy Boller, Chief Executive Officer, Certe, the transaction forms part of an ambitious growth strategy, which includes organic growth, mergers and acquisitions, supported by the group’s capital and growth partner, AZ NGA.
“Demand for strategic financial advice among our corporate clients and their employees has been steadily rising. Many are partners and executives of large professional services firms so they are time poor and want convenient access to high quality advice on insurance, superannuation, investing and retirement planning from someone they trust,” Mr Boller said.
“This acquisition fills a gap in our value proposition, strengthens our existing employee benefits service and enables us to help more people. It strongly positions us as a serious challenger in the employee benefits space.”
Genesis Financial Partners Co-Founder and Joint Managing Director Phil Robbins said the deal represented a win/win for all parties by expanding the breadth and depth of services available to both Genesis and Certe clients, providing attractive and greater career development opportunities for the talented senior staff at Genesis, and creating a path for him to gradually step back from day-to-day management.
Under the deal, Robbins and fellow Genesis Joint Managing Director, Wilton Wong, will remain with the group for a minimum of three years.
“We had been looking for a partner to help take our business to the next level for some time,” Mr Robbins said.
“Outside of the big three international broking firms, Certe and Genesis together will be right up there in terms of the size of our group risk and employee benefit portfolio. We’re keen to continue building our business and taking care of our clients and staff.
“Certe is also a leader in the employee benefits space. The way they approach things is quite unique and innovative, which Genesis clients will benefit from.”
Certe and Genesis Financial Partners will continue operating independently for the next 12-18 months, before merging some functions to extract synergies and cost benefits.
AZ NGA Chief Executive Officer Paul Barrett said accounting and advisory firms of the future needed to get bigger and scale up in order to expand their capacity and capability and meet latent demand for quality advice.
“We are supporting our accounting and advisory firms to grow and build stronger businesses by not only providing capital funding for growth but the systems, expertise and experience necessary to properly structure and execute deals,” he said.
“We are focused on helping our partners achieve their personal and professional goals, and we’re willing and able to be flexible to make things happen.”
Under the deal, Certe has acquired 60% of Genesis Financial Partners upfront and will purchase the remaining 40% at a later date.
For more information, please contact:
Jeremy Boller, Chief Executive Officer, Certe
M: 0412 418 252
E: Jeremy.boller@certe.com.au