Sequoia sells down Centrepoint stake as cash-raising plan takes shape

Sequoia Financial Group Limited’s plan to shore up its cash position and address concerns over its viability as a going concern appears to be under way, with two of its subsidiaries selling down the group’s shareholdings in Centrepoint Alliance Limited, raising $5.59 million over the past six weeks.

Sequoia subsidiary Sage Capital Group sold 10 million Centrepoint shares on-market on 25 August for $3.65 million. InterPrac Financial Planning, the Sequoia licensee subsidiary at the centre of regulatory and legal actions following the collapse of the Shield and First Guardian master funds, sold a further 5.54 million shares between 17 July and 26 August, raising $1.94 million. 

The sales average out at about 36 cents a share compared to Centrepoint’s current price of around 40 cents a share on 1 September.

Sequoia notified the ASX that on 27 August it had ceased to be a substantial shareholder in Centrepoint, having fallen below the 5 per cent shareholding threshold that triggers an ASX substantial shareholder notice. It is unclear whether the sales represent Sequoia’s entire holdings in Centrepoint.

The sales are in line with a plan Sequoia’s directors set out in note 2 to the company’s FY26 accounts, lodged with the ASX on 28 August. The company announced a statutory loss of $8.6 million, down from a profit of $3.2 million the year before, and disclosed material uncertainty over the group’s ability to continue as a going concern. 

The note said that Sequoia management’s plan was to keep working with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and its legal advisers on various regulatory and legal actions currently in motion, hold down operating costs, and realise liquid assets.

“The directors consider that these actions, together with the group’s forecast operating cash flows and available financial resources, provide a reasonable basis for the group to continue as a going concern,” the report said.

AFCA still taking complaints

On 27 August AFCA’s lead ombudsman for investments and advice, Shail Singh, said in an update posted on AFCA’s website that it is continuing to accept and progress complaints about InterPrac in relation to the collapse of Shield and First Guardian, despite InterPrac’s court action against the authority, now listed for 15 and 16 February 2027 after the court moved it from October. 

Singh said complaints would proceed to caseworker assessment but that, consistent with its usual approach, AFCA “will generally not issue determinations while the court proceedings are underway.” 

He said this was meant to “reduce unnecessary complexity and potential stress for impacted consumers” while keeping investigations ready to move once the case concludes.

ASIC’s civil penalty proceedings against InterPrac in the Federal Court, over conduct linked to advisers it authorised and who allegedly directed clients into Shield and First Guardian before they collapsed, now have a directions hearing listed for April 2027.

Changes at the top

Chief financial officer Lizzie Tan will resign effective 2 September, and also step down as joint company secretary, after seven and a half years in the role. 

Sequoia said Graeme Lay, a 25-year accounting veteran with experience across ASX and NYSE-listed companies as well as family-owned and founder-led businesses, took over as CFO from 31 August.

Former chief executive Garry Crole resigned on 21 July and was replaced the next day by Alex Fabbri as interim CEO, while chairman Mike Ryan, who announced his resignation on 27 May, left the role effective 16 June 2026. 

David Hentschke was appointed interim chairman on 22 July. The board says it has begun searching for permanent replacements for both the chief executive and chairman roles.

Second time lucky?

Sequoia Wealth Group has appointed an independent adviser to help it sell InterPrac, the second time this year that it has tried to find a buyer. A share sale agreement signed in March to sell 100 per cent of InterPrac to Conquest Investment Partners for $50,000 fell through after ASIC went to the Federal Court in April seeking to appoint a receiver to test whether the sale was bona fide and fairly priced.

Sequoia Wealth terminated the Conquest deal in May, and ASIC discontinued its court proceeding in July after Sequoia and InterPrac undertook not to remove a deed of cross guarantee linking InterPrac to the rest of the group in connection with that contract.

That deed binds each Sequoia group company to guarantee the debts of the others in a wind-up. Removing it would ring-fence InterPrac’s liabilities from the rest of the group, a proposal Sequoia has already flagged it intends to revive if its second sale attempt succeeds.