ASX-listed wealth manager WT Financial Group will become Australia’s third largest financial adviser and the largest not aligned to a bank or funds management business after it acquires rival Synchron for $8 million.
It would leapfrog ASX-listed competitors Centrepoint Alliance and Sequoia Group as well as national stockbroking firms Morgans and Ord Minnett. “Demand for advice continues to grow across Australia with millennial inheritance from 2020-2040 forecast to reach $3.5 trillion, with superannuation assets expected to double by 2029, and the largest cohort ever to enter age care,” he said. “The landscape within the financial advice sector has a strong outlook, and the synergies created from the acquisition position us for further growth.”
It is backed by institutional shareholders including Gary Weiss’ Ariadne Australia, Michael Glennon’s Glennon Small Companies Limited and Duncan Saville’s Somers Limited. WT previously ran an entity called Spring FG Funds Management acting as the manager of the Specialist Residential Property Impact Fund, a managed investment scheme investing in disability housing. But it is understood the fund has been sold as part of the company’s ambition to become a pure wealth management provider.