Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has agreed to divest its advice arm Count Financial to CountPlus in a deal worth A$2.5m ($1.7m).
Count Financial administers A$8.1bn of funds and employs 359 financial advisers.
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The business was purchased by CBA in 2011 for A$373m.
In the current financial year, the business is expected to report a post-tax loss of nearly A$13m.
Currently, CountPlus has equity stakes in 15 Count Financial member firms.
CBA will offer a $200m indemnity to CountPlus to manage Count Financial’s customer remediation over past issues.
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By GlobalDataThe deal is expected to close this October, subject to shareholder nod.
“The Transaction is not expected to have a material impact on the Group’s net profit after tax,” CBA said.
At the same time, CBA announced plans to sell its 35.85% stake in CountPlus after deal completion.
CountPlus managing director and CEO Matthew Rowe said: “This is a strategic acquisition, creating a strong professional accounting and financial advisory network aligned by its shared values, mutual success and sense of community.
“The Board and executive team at CountPlus are focused on a clear strategy for growth, and building a scalable and sustainable, customer-centric professional service network.”
The latest move comes shortly after the announcement of sale of Westpac’s financial advice business.
