Financial services firm Investorfirst has completed a review of its business operations, resulting in a restructure of its stockbroking division.
In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, Investorfirst said it would exit the managed discretionary account (MDA) business operated by its 81 per cent subsidiary Alert Trader Group (ATG).
The decision to exit the MDA business would involve completely unwinding the ATG acquisition transaction, the company said.
“[Investorfirst] has agreed confidential settlement terms with the previous principal shareholder of ATG for the majority of terms of the share sale agreement entered into in September 2010 to be set aside,” it said.
Under released terms of the arrangement, Investorfirst will assume 100 per cent ownership of the ATG business and surrender a non-material cash balance to the previous ATG principal shareholder in return for more than 8.8 million fully-paid Investorfirst shares.
Investorfirst deputy non-executive chairman Jason Entwistle said exiting the ATG business was inconsistent with the company’s future direction in stockbroking.
“We believe this refinement is in the best interest of all stakeholders going forward,” Entwistle said.
Investorfirst released details of its planned company review in September after reporting a net loss after tax of $4.45 million for the year ending 30 June 2011.
Meanwhile, Investorfirst’s platform business, Hub24, has been added by a number of dealer groups.
Ord Minnett, Paradigm, Financial Force, Avestra, Bristol Street, Gleneagles Securities and Global Prime have selected Hub24 as a platform for their advisers and brokers.
