Pharos in acquisition mode

Private equity firm, Pharos Financial Group is in negotiations to buy two additional Queensland-based financial planning practices, under its Advance Equity Partners program.

Since the launch of the Advance Equity Partners program in 2011, Pharos Financial Group has acquired interests, ranging between 35 and 100 per cent, in seven financial planning and accounting practices. Four of those deals were done in the last 12 months.

All seven practices are licensed by Pharos-owned dealer group Madison Financial Group.

Pharos director Peter Mullens said the group was currently in talks with a practice on the Gold Coast and another in Brisbane, as it strived towards a vertically-integrated business model.

“We’ve been acquiring interests in underlying practices on an opportunistic basis as we build a vertically-integrated business because we believe that under FoFA, vertical integration will create value,” he said.

Mullens, who is managing director and senior financial planner at North Sydney-based advice firm, Halcyon Wealth Advisers, said he was winding back his involvement in the day-to-day running of the advice firm to focus on his role as a director of Pharos Financial Group.

Mullens, who is also chair of Madison Financial Group’s investment committee, sold part of his equity in Halcyon Wealth Advisers into the Advance Equity Partners program.

“The aim is that I continue looking after my top 20 or so clients and spend the rest of my time working on the broader Pharos and Madison businesses,” he said.

In October, Madison held its annual dealer group conference in Hobart, where the group announced the appointment of former head of business development at Infocus Wealth Management Giulio Russo to the role of general manager

Madison Financial Group has 82 authorised representatives.