Conquest’s modest punt on InterPrac
You need to look reasonably deeply into the archives to identify the man heading up the firm which has entered into an agreement to acquire troubled financial advice licensee InterPrac from Sequoia Financial Services.
That man is John Pereira who was making headlines more than a decade ago with respect to the India Equities Fund and Olympus Funds Management with his vehicle being Conquest Investment Partners which, according to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) was first registered in July 2024 and has a registered office in Toorak, Melbourne.
Pereira, who has taken on the role of chief executive of Conquest, used the announcement of the transaction to the Australian Securities Exchange to reference “a strong opportunity to build on its longstanding presence in the financial advice sector”.
“We look forward to working closely with advisers, platform providers, and broader industry participants as we support the next phase of the business under new ownership. Our focus will be on stability, engagement and delivering a sustainable path forward for all stakeholders,” Pereira’s statement said.
Sequoia Financial Services chief executive, Garry Crole has suggested the selling price for InterPrac is $50,000 and the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) noted that it had written off $4.7 million intangible assets in relation to InterPrac. principally represented by a write down of the customer list on increasing adviser resignations.
The announcement also stated that if the conditions precedent of the Sale Agreement are not satisfied, “the board will write down the value of InterPrac further by approximately $7.5 million, representing the appropriate value of the cash and share investment assets of InterPrac.
The ASX announcement said the Sequoia Board had determined that the offer to acquire Interprac was the most appropriate action for all parties including Sequoia shareholders having regard to:
- The disproportionate risk profile of the business relative to its reduced scale and earning capacity.
- The presence of potential contingent liabilities in respect of the open Australian Financial Complaints Authority (“AFCA”) proceedings and the associated costs (including legal) in responding to these complaints, which are difficult to quantify with any degree of certainty.
- The continued contraction in adviser numbers and revenue base following platform service changes, which, under the current resignation rate, would be expected to reduce to nil within 12 months. This has been accelerated by the decision of a further platform this week to also remove adviser access to new business from the end of this month.
- The importance of ensuring that InterPrac remains appropriately resourced to address ongoing matters.
“The Board notes that under new ownership, InterPrac is more likely to be able to recommence engaging with platforms and stem adviser losses, providing a greater ability to fund and manage the ongoing obligations of reasonable remediation.
This outcome is considered to be in the best interests of stakeholders, including clients and complainants to AFCA, as Sequoia believes the new ownership of InterPrac will be able to support the continued operation of InterPrac with access to capital and risk management protections,” it said.
The transaction enables Sequoia to:
- Remove exposure to ongoing financial and regulatory uncertainty despite writing off intangible assets in respect of InterPrac of circa $4.7m.
- Refocus on its core strategic businesses and growth initiatives
From the famous movie the Castle – “Tell them they are dreaming”. With so many AFCA complaints (850+), action by ASIC seeking to close the licensee and little evidence of the experience needed to run a larger advice operation, this is just dreaming. Presumably this dressed up sale is just another strategy to cancel the cross company guarantee before Interprac is placed into liquidation with the CSLR set to pick up the cost.
Plus how can Interprac on one hand put in place an arrangement for advisers to transfer to AvalonFS and on the other hand say that Interprac will continue to operate better than ever under the control of an entity called Conquest Investment Partners, which no one has ever heard of. Tell them they are dreaming.
It’s not entirely clear why Crole is doing this, but one thing is clear: the hot mess that is InterPrac is now moving from the scrutiny and required transparency of a publicly listed company to the black box that is a private company. Everyone but Crole is now a net loser because of that.
Sequoia shareholders cop a $4.7 million write-down — potentially $7.5 million more — to offload the business for fifty grand. Meanwhile, AFCA complainants and affected clients lose the benefit of ASX continuous disclosure obligations, and instead get to deal with a private entity run by a bloke whose most notable prior form involves India Equities Fund and Olympus Funds Management over a decade ago.
And the suggestion that this is “in the best interests of stakeholders, including clients and complainants”? Since when is reducing transparency and oversight in anyone’s best interests — other than the people trying to manage their way out of a mess they created?