Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has announced it has agreed to acquire dealer group, Count Financial Limited.
CBA will pay $1.40 per share to acquire the accountant-based adviser group, which will increase the number of advisers operating under CBA-owned distribution from approximately 1,220 to over 1,850. CBA says this will rank it second largest distribution network in Australia by adviser numbers.
In making this move, CBA noted a number of specific benefits to its business:
- It provides CBA further access to the important and growing self managed super fund sector
- The Count business is complementary to CBA’s Colonial First State advice businesses
Commonwealth Bank Group Executive, Wealth Management, Grahame Petersen, said:
“Our intention is to run the business on a standalone basis, supporting its business strategy, current open architecture platform philosophy and providing a platform for growth through a highly regarded network of accountant-based financial advisers.”
“We believe an acquisition of Count is an excellent strategic and cultural fit,” added Mr Petersen.
CBA says the acquisition transaction scheme is subject to a number of conditions, but it is expected that a Count shareholder meeting scheduled to be held in November 2011 will approve the acquisition.
