Coastal Advice Group announces 3 acquisitions

Coastal Advice Group, which said it has an “ambitious growth plan” and aims to become a leading provider of financial advice in Australia, has brought in RI Brighton and Wealth for Life Financial Planning.

Based in Adelaide, RI Brighton and Steven Hampel, who is a Certified Financial Planner with more than 32 years of experience, will join the group in December, while the acquisition of Wealth for Life Financial Planning is slated to be finalised in January 2024 and will bring in SMSF specialist Rex Whitford.

Coastal Advice Group added that the third firm, which is an established firm in Port Macquarie, will be added “early in the new year”.

This follows the acquisition of Newcastle’s Folio Private Wealth in June 2023 and the successful onboarding of the clients and key staff members.

“We commenced this project earlier this year, to identify key partnerships between the Central Coast and the Gold Coast and our first look interstate,” said Coastal Advice Group chief executive Daniel Brown.

“Our experience with acquiring or merging businesses in the last few years ensures we focus on the three key parties – the clients, the staff, and the vendor – who may have a desire for a succession plan, joining the business as a shareholder or moving into retirement.”

Speaking with ifa, Mr Brown said that the overarching goal of Coastal Advice Group is to allow financial advisers to stay in front of clients and provide high-quality advice, while the group “corporatises” the processes and takes care of everything else.

“We want to standardise the advice delivery and personalise the client experience,” he told ifa.

“So each of them will run as their own hub and we’re trying to create each location as a hub, where they somewhat have their own P&L. They have got to believe in the vision of the business and then we’ve got committees for the platforms we choose, the investments, and the insurances.

“We believe we’ve built the advice business of the future. It’s about really focusing on the client experience, and everything else should be corporatised.”

Mr Brown stressed that the firm is looking to benefit all parties involved, beginning with a client focus and letting that perspective drive mergers and acquisitions.

“We are very focused on our business as client-centric, we want to provide benefits to the staff, clients, and to the shareholders,” he said.

“We’ve got a real blueprint when we look at M&A opportunities and we know what’s a fit and what isn’t and if it is, we want to explore all options.

“We go with an open-minded approach. The business has got to be a winner, the clients have got to be winners, and ideally the vendor, whatever that looks like, as well as the staff. That’s how we’ve been approaching it and it seems to work.”

Upon completion of the three transactions, Coastal Advice Group said it would have a team of 15 financial advisers, with plans to expand further through strategic hires, bringing the estimated team size to 50.

The firm will also service over 2,000 clients with funds under management exceeding $1 billion.