WT Financial Group Limited (WTL) this morning announced it will acquire 100% of national financial adviser dealer group, Sentry Group Pty Ltd. It expects the acquisition to complete in mid-July and has provided market guidance of FY2022 NPAT of greater than $2M as a result. The Company said it expected the acquisition to deliver further organic and inorganic growth – and significant share price appreciation.
The acquisition represents a significant expansion of WTL’s move to a B2B focus, which commenced in 2018 with the acquisition of the then dealer group minnow, Wealth Today. The company said that the acquisition would see it emerge with around 275 advisers across more than 200 practices Australia-wide, making it amongst the largest non-institutionally owned dealer groups in the country.
The acquisition includes WTL raising some $5M, which was via a book build undertaken during a trading halt last Thursday. WTL said it had not yet determined allocations but market scuttlebutt on Friday indicated the bookbuild was headed by two leads not yet on the WTL register in Duncan Saville’s Somers Limited (major holder of Resimac), and Michael Glennon’s Glennon Small Companies Limited.
Long term WTL supporters Gary Weiss’s Ariadne Australia, and industry veteran Ronni Chalmers are rumoured to feature – along with Tod McGrouther of KTM Capital. Melbourne-based Armytage Microcap Fund who joined the WTL register last year is also understood to have been a major bidder for the placement which even at a 25% premium to WTL’s last close before its trading halt was significantly overbid – so there is likely to be at least some disappointed bidders.
A shareholder meeting to approve that placement will be held in mid-July, with completion of the acquisition following immediately thereafter. The company said that a notice of meeting and explanatory memorandum will be sent to shareholders in the next day or two.
