Stockbroking firm Investorfirst will take over investment platform and administration provider HUB24 for $20 million.
Investorfirst will raise $12.5 million in capital to help pay for the acquisition.
HUB24 managing director Darren Pettiona will become the managing director of Investorfirst and will be responsible for running the day-to-day operations, while Otto Buttula will remain Investorfirst's executive chairman.
Pettiona said the acquisition will give the companies the opportunity to become major players in the financial services market.
"If you look across the industry there are no independent financial services utilities [companies]," Pettiona said.
"Someone might have a wrap or they might have a stockbroker, but that would be all they have.
"Investorfirst will be the first non-institutionally owned financial services utility for the wealth management sector."
HUB24 provides unitised and non-unitised investment services to financial planning groups, including Sentry and Matrix, and self-managed super trustees.
Pettiona said the transaction will enable the company to expand platform operations and hire staff, in order to compete better with platform providers owned by major financial institutions.
"That is the whole idea - let's capitalise this up so that we can have a shot at these arcane giants, these slow-moving giants that just haven't really added any value to the industry for ten years but just monopolised it," he said.
The company is also planning to expand its services into the retail super industry through its model portfolio services.
"We already have all the investment options, so we really just need to put the trustee environment around it," Pettiona said.
