Professional services group, AZ NGA, has announced plans to acquire a stake in Perth-based financial advice business The Wealth Designers (TWD). The deal will mark AZ NGA’s 130th transaction including 20 transactions in Western Australia.

Founded by Troy MacMillan in 2009, TWD has around $1 billion in funds under advice and employs 47 staff, including 10 financial advisers, across locations in Perth and Sydney. The firm specialises in values-based advice, wealth management and UK pension transfers.

TWD’s clients include professionals, business owners, farmers and wealthy families.

According to Paul Barrett, Chief Executive Officer of AZ NGA, the deal will strengthen the group’s presence in Western Australia and create opportunities for TWD to expand nationally.

“Troy and TWD are established and highly respected not only in Western Australia but across Australia, and we are extremely excited to attract and partner with a business of this calibre,” he said.

“There is a lot of alignment between AZ NGA and TWD in terms of our thinking, values and culture. TWD is very much focused on growth. The business has the right people, structure and systems in place to achieve its growth ambitions and mission to help more Australians achieve their financial goals.”

MacMillan said that after years of building and refining TWD’s value proposition, processes and enterprise architecture, the time was right to introduce a strategic partner.

“We had grown to a certain size, mainly organically, but we recognised that, in order to achieve our goals, we needed additional firepower,” he said.

“AZ NGA brings that firepower. We want to have a boutique office in every Australian capital city disseminating our unique style of values-based advice and we are ready to start ramping things up.

“We have always had a different approach to financial advice and we are proud of that difference. We want to make it available to as many people as possible.”

Barrett said the TWD transaction highlighted AZ NGA’s commitment to investing in high quality advice businesses throughout Australia.

“We are constantly on the lookout for high quality businesses around Australia and we are leveraging our existing relationships to strengthen our position,” he said.

“We are bolstering our presence in WA by acquiring the capability and capacity to deliver specialised advice to more people.”

AZ NGA member firms in Western Australia include McKinley Plowman (Perth & Joondalup), Wealthwise (Osborne Park, Mandurah and Cockburn) and On-Track Financial Solutions (Como).

For more information, please contact:

Leng Ohlsson

Principal, Splash Content

M: 0409 509 516

E: leng@splashcontent.com.au