Countplus is on the acquisition trail, executive chairman Barry Lambert has said.
“There are a lot of people out there thinking: ‘What’s going to happen to our business? Who’s going to buy it?’ Well, Countplus is out there buying good ones,” Lambert told InvestorDaily yesterday.
“We’ve already got 20 businesses. We won’t just buy for the sake of it, but with the funding of the bank, there’s no doubt about the ability of Countplus to prosper.”
Countplus owns businesses across Australia, with the exception of the Northern Territory and Tasmania. Lambert said the group was over-represented in New South Wales, with 11 businesses there, and would be looking to even out its footprint.
Lambert declined to detail how large Countplus aimed to grow, saying the objective was quality, not quantity.
He made the comments after chairing his last Count annual general meeting before Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) takes ownership of the investment advice group he founded 31 years ago.
Later that same day, the Supreme Court of New South Wales approved schemes of arrangement surrounding the $373 million transaction. The approvals allow CBA to buy all Count shares and cancel all outstanding options in Count.
As a result, Count shares stop trading today.
Countplus listed on the Australian Securities Exchange about a year ago, leaving Count with about 39 per cent of the accounting and wealth management group. After the 9 December settlement of CBA’s acquisition of Count, the stake transfers to the bank, making it the largest shareholder in Countplus.
“I think Countplus will prosper more under CBA than it would under independent ownership. That’s my personal view and I’ll be able to try to make that happen,” Lambert said.
Meanwhile, the industry has been awaiting whether Count chief executive Andrew Gale would continue to run the business under its new owner and Lambert said the bank would likely make an announcement after the 9 December settlement date.
“They won’t signal their hand or make any decisions until the appropriate time. It’s not right and proper for them to do that until they own the business,” he said of CBA.
Asked whether he would expect an announcement before Christmas, he said: “I would think so because obviously Andrew would like to know if there’s any change and people like yourself ask these questions.”
