Advice firms need to consider if the “revolving door” of private equity (PE) deals is in the best interest of their clients, according to Count CEO Hugh Humphrey.
Humphrey referenced the recent PwC report covered in Money Management which stated the second stage of PE exits is underway in the financial services market after a whirlwind flurry of acquisitions, especially by overseas players.
“In markets where private equity investment in wealth management began earlier, a number of assets may come back to market over the next 12 months. The form of those exits, whether through consolidation among consolidators, sales to new financial sponsors, or acquisitions by strategic buyers, will help set the tone for future investment,” its Global M&A in financial services mid-year outlook report stated.
While Count is no stranger to its own M&A activity, most recently taking an increased stake in Tailored Lifetime Solutions, Humphrey said it is taking a “forever” approach to any deals rather than short-term trades.
PE investment can last from around 4-8 years and is typically exited via a sale to a related strategic buyer, a secondary buyout to another private equity firm, a listing on the stockmarket or a sale back to the original founders. Just last week, TA Associates – which also has a stake in Viridian Financial Group in Australia – exited its stake in Russell Investments after a decade in a sale to venture capital firm B Capital.
Humphrey said: “We’ve got some really good investors, some patient ones and we know they will have a big impact. We’re not constantly running towards the exit and entry doors.
“From our perspective, it makes us question is that in the best interest of advisers, of accountants and how much do our clients benefit from that revolving door?
“We’re focused on building a sustainable business that is really about helping Australians to achieve financial freedom, not just looking at the returns we can get for an investor.”
Asked what a typical timeline would be for a Count investment, he said: “When we invest, we intend to do that forever. Nothing is forever of course but that’s how we think about it and our mindset. We have a target range of 51-70 per cent ownership for our equity partnerships and we can cycle the partners in and out as it suits them.
“As these firms get bigger, we support them for growth, most of our equity partnerships are north of $10 million in revenue, some are more than $30 million. So they are big enough to support not only Count as the majority capital partner as well as internal shareholders. We find that model really works for us.
“It’s about balancing that entrepreneurial spirit with also having a material stake where we are generating really good returns and getting to scale. Our other partners might buy up more equity or we might drop below our target range to support a new shareholder coming on board then in other cases, we might lift above it.”
As to how Count supports its partner firms once they are part of the Count Group, Humphrey said it works with external HR firms to build talent pipelines for its managing partners as well as runs bespoke development course to ensure it is plugging any skills gaps for its staff.
This focus on training and development is evident across the business with the firm also running its Professional Year program for new advisers.
“At the moment, we have 40-50 PY advisers going through the program and we expect over the next year, that will increase to 100. We see it as an opportunity to continue to grow and scale and bring younger people into the profession as well as career changers.
“We’re doing our bit on behalf of the profession but it’s not enough, I’d like to see other firms doing their bit more.”
Oracle Group deal becomes Count Wealth
A big deal the firm has been working on this year is the $72.2 million deal to acquire all three businesses within financial services firm Oracle Group. Once this is complete, the business will be known as Count Wealth with around $1.8 billion in funds under advice.
Count Wealth will be run as a standalone division led by group executive of wealth Andrew Kennedy as well as Duncan Brown who will move over from leading Count subsidiary GPS Wealth. Kennedy has spent more than a decade at Count including four years as chief advice officer and 18 months as group head of advice and Brown joined in 2025 after stints at Viridian Financial and BT Financial Group.
“[Count Wealth] will be a fresh, contemporary, premium proposition and will leverage our national footprint with 20 accountants, 18 financial planning firms and 14 offices, will help us recruit and retain staff and acquire new clients organically. It brings a really strong footprint across 14 locations that gives us a platform for growth.”
Newcastle and Western Sydney – two areas where Oracle Group already has a presence – were recently named in a KPMG report of dynamic, fast-growing cities across Australia and Humphrey says Count has always strived to maintain a presence beyond Sydney and Melbourne.
“We have never been city-focused, we’ve always been strong in the regions. The Gold Coast has been great for us, Geelong and the outer Melbourne suburbs and Newcastle has been a real strength, we’ve had lots of new advisers and equity partnerships coming from there.”
Indicating this is far from the last deal it will do, Count is hopeful that the acquisition of Oracle will beget more acquisitions in the future now it has capabilities and staff in more sites nationwide.
“We have already teed up a lot of very interesting potential acquisitions off the back of this platform because we know have that capability in all of those locations from Queensland down through New South Wales and Victoria.”