Out for the Count: Investors call CBA home

Count Financial founder and executive chairman, Barry Lambert, says the Commonwealth Bank of Australia is “the best possible owner going forward” as shareholders approved the deal earlier this week.

The company’s 31^st Annual General Meeting took place on Monday, revealing that almost 95 per cent of shareholders supported the scheme of arrangement that will see CBA acquire all outstanding shares in Count.

The result is a final green light for CBA’s $373 million takeover offer, which received Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approval earlier this month.

Andrew Geddes and Joycelyn Morton were both re-elected as directors by large margins at the AGM.

Asked to reflect on Count’s life as a publically-listed company coming to an end, Lambert said the certainty of the CBA offer in difficult market conditions made it an easy decision to make.

“I strongly believe that the CBA will be good owners of Count and will provide a safe and secure home for Count’s stakeholders consisting of the staff, franchisees, advisers and their clients,” Lambert said.

Lambert will continue with Count as non-executive chairman and remain chairman of listed financial services and aggregation company, Countplus.

Countplus will remain a separately listed company under independent management although the change in Count’s ownership means CBA will now be its largest shareholder.

Under the schemes of arrangement, all the ordinary shares in Count will be acquired by a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Commonwealth Bank.

Count’s share price initially jumped from about a dollar to over $1.40 per share when news of the CBA bid was announced in August.

Trading volumes have steadily increased since although the company has generally traded between $1.35 and $1.40 since.