SYDNEY: WT Financial Group Ltd. has entered into a binding agreement to acquire a 70% interest in TNT Advisor Solutions, an Australian provider of onshore paraplanning services, the company announced Tuesday.
The deal values TNT at 3.48 million Australian dollars, with WT Financial paying 2.43 million for its majority stake, based on 4.5 times normalized EBITDA. The acquisition will be funded from the company’s existing cash reserves.
TNT founders Tamara Morey and Tanya Higgins, along with Chief Executive Officer Dela Dzadey, will retain a combined 30% stake and continue to lead the business. Dzadey is expected to return from maternity leave to maintain her leadership role, supported by the existing management and paraplanning team.
WT Financial Managing Director Keith Cullen said the investment aligns with the company’s strategy of building an ecosystem around privately owned advice practices.
“The best businesses in financial advice are built by entrepreneurs who remain close to their people and clients,” Cullen said. “Our job is not to take that away. It is to give them access to resources and opportunities that become possible through greater scale.”
Cullen said advice practices increasingly require scalable specialist capabilities, including high-quality outsourced services as an alternative to adding fixed internal resources.
Morey said the partnership would allow TNT to pursue growth ambitions while preserving the culture that underpinned its success.
“Partnering with WTL provides access to additional capital, technology capability and a broader market, while allowing TNT to remain TNT – focused on our people, our clients and providing exceptional Australian-based paraplanning,” Morey said.
Cullen said demand for flexible outsourced paraplanning capacity is expected to grow as advice practices seek to scale operations.
“For many years, parts of the paraplanning industry have been engaged in a race to the bottom on price, often accompanied by declining quality and increasing reliance on offshore document production,” he said. “Emerging technologies are turning that model on its head and creating a race to the top – in quality, efficiency, responsiveness and turnaround times.”
Morey said TNT views technology as a tool to enhance, not replace, experienced paraplanners.
“We don’t see technology replacing great paraplanners,” she said. “We see it making great paraplanners even better.”
TNT will retain its brand, management team and client relationships, continuing to serve practices across licensee groups and the self-licensed market. The partnership will provide additional resources to expand its Australian paraplanner base and invest in technology and workflow capabilities.
Completion of the transaction is expected shortly, subject to satisfaction of remaining requirements.
WT Financial Group, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange under the ticker WTL, operates one of the largest financial adviser networks in Australia, with about 400 privately owned advice practices under its Wealth Today, Sentry Advice, Synchron Advice and Millennium3 subsidiaries.
About WT Financial Group Limited
WT Financial Group Ltd. (ASX: WTL) is a financial services company offering wealth management, retirement planning and personal risk insurance advice through a network of about 400 privately owned advice practices. The group’s Wealth Adviser division provides support, training and financial literacy resources to advisers and clients both within and outside its network.
