InterPrac Financial Planning advisers have been given an exit strategy with its ASX-listed owner, Sequoia Financial Group, coming to an agreement for an easy transition for advisers that want to leave the licensee as it sells the under-fire licensee to Conquest Investment Partners.
Avalon FS, which currently has 34 advisers according to Adviser Ratings data, made a deal with Sequoia for InterPrac advisers to move licensee as Sequoia announced to the ASX on Monday it was selling the licensee for $50,000 to Conquest.
Avalon FS chief executive Neal Hornsby said the agreement with Sequoia was made last Monday before the sale was announced and the original agreement remains in place.
“My dealer group has been running now for nearly 13 years, and we have an impeccable compliance record,” Hornsby told Professional Planner on Monday.
“My background is compliance and governance at the highest level. They were happy for their advisers to come across to us, to a reputable and strongly compliant group. As was ASIC who I’ve been on the phone to in the last three weeks.”
The decision from Sequoia Financial Group to sell InterPrac followed a strategic review that was revealed in the company’s half-year results in February with the company later stating that pushback from platforms – by banning new business from its advisers – had made the future of the business untenable.
ASIC has taken InterPrac to court, arguing it failed to have sufficient oversight of advisers the regulator considers responsible for leading investors into the now-failed Shield and First Guardian master funds that has caused investor losses of around $1 billion.
The Sequoia announcement said the InterPrac sale allows the company to remove its exposure to ongoing financial and regulatory uncertainty and that platforms will more likely be willing to work with the licensee under new ownership.
In a statement, Avalon FS said that InterPrac advisers wishing to move to the licensee will not be required to pay the two-year professional indemnity (PI) levy imposed on exiting authorised representatives and they would receive priority position in the offboarding queue.
Hornsby said Avalon FS had previously taken on Dover advisers when the licensee collapsed during the Hayne royal commission.
He added that incoming InterPrac advisers will have to sign a statutory declaration stating they had no dealings with Shield and First Guardian.
“We were one of the few that took on the Dover advisers and we put in strict guardrails for that, the ones that we put in place for this one are even more stringent,” Hornsby said.
“We’ve had 30 applications… we’ve put plans in train so if we got 40 that’s great, if we got 100, we’ll deal with that.”
InterPrac has lost 57 advisers since the start of 2026 according to Padua Wealth Data research, and has lost 100 advisers since the start of 2025 according to Adviser Ratings data.
The majority of advisers have moved to licensees including Centrepoint Alliance, Finchley & Kent, Lifespan, Advice Evolution, while some have gone to smaller licensees or self-licensed, according to Wealth Data.
Conquest mystery
The sale to Conquest has raised eyebrows across the industry as little is known about the entity and little information appears online other than that it was registered in July 2024, according to ASIC registers.
When asked further questions about the history of the business and the nature of the relationship between the two entities, Sequoia didn’t provide any more information to Professional Planner at the time of publication.
In Monday’s ASX announcement, Sequoia said the management of Conquest are long-term financial services participants across licensing, legal and funds management.
The firm’s managing director, John Pereira, has founded funds management businesses including the India Equities Fund and Olympus Funds Management.
“Our focus will be on stability, engagement and delivering a sustainable path forward for all stakeholders,” Pereira said.
To assist Pereira, Justin Harding, the sole director of InterPrac, will remain with the business.
ASIC registers show that Crole ceased being a director of InterPrac from 1 December 2025, with Harding the only remaining director.
InterPrac will receive support under a transitional services agreement with Sequoia-owned Acacia Compliance Services for the next six months.
Pending approval
Sequoia said that if the conditions in the sale agreement aren’t satisfied – including if the ASX determines that shareholder approval is required and shareholders don’t approve the sale – the board will instead write down the value of InterPrac by a further $7.5 million.
Sequoia has written off $4.7 million in intangible assets in relation to InterPrac and has approximately $1.5 million in cash reserves and an investment portfolio with around $6 million ($7.5 million in assets in total), plus $20 million in professional indemnity insurance coverage.
The company confirmed that notice of the failure of the Shield and First Guardian funds was given to the PI insurer in the FY24 policy year.
Sequoia said InterPrac has not paid dividends for over two years to maintain cash to deal with potential remediation and legal costs.
Under the terms of the agreement, 100 per cent of shares will be transferred to the new owner.
“As the proceedings and complaints made to AFCA are against InterPrac the new owner of the shares in InterPrac, if the sale completes, may elect to withdraw or accelerate the AFCA determinations and seek to mediate with ASIC regarding its separate actions as Sequoia had planned to do,” the Sequoia announcement said.
“The increasing platform withdrawals for new business for remaining advisers, despite their not being involved whatsoever with the failures of the Shield and First Guardian funds has had a large bearing on Sequoia’s divestment decision.”
AFCA had released its lead determination against InterPrac earlier this year and the licensee is suing the complaints authority.
