WT Financial Group is to acquire Cairns-based Life Sumo and use the firm as a springboard for further expansion as part of its ‘Hubco’ project.
Life Sumo founder James Mousa will serve as CEO and Senior Financial adviser of the new Hubco business. While due diligence has been completed, the acquisition has not been completed.
ASX-listed WT Financial said the Life Sumo platform will pursue further acquisitions funded through a combination of vendor equity, Investco equity, and debt.
Keith Cullen, WT Financial’s Managing Director, said the strategy was designed to provide founder-led advice businesses with additional options.
“The Hubco strategy is an important part of how WTL is helping modernise the financial advice profession,” Cullen said.
…Our focus remains on supporting high-quality advice practices…
“It gives founder-led practices more options to release capital, fund growth, solve succession, manage retirement, and retain exposure to dividend-producing advice businesses in a sector they know deeply.
“Of course, Hubcos are only one part of WTL’s broader partnership model.”
Cullen said practices do not need to participate in a Hubco to be central to the firm’s network.
“Our focus remains on supporting high-quality advice practices through our Four Pillars framework – pricing confidence, capacity building, lead flow, and enterprise value and succession,” he said.
“WTL has built a very special platform. Far from being focused on adviser numbers for their own sake, we are focused on helping the practices in our network become stronger, more valuable and better equipped to deliver quality advice at scale.”
Click here for WT Financial’s full announcement.
