AZ NGA enters partnership with Victorian firm

The professional services company has entered a strategic partnership with Melbourne-headquartered McLean Delmo Bentleys, with AZ NGA aiming to expand its Victorian footprint.

McLean Delmo Bentleys is a multi-disciplinary firm, with around 90 staff across accounting, auditing, insurance and wealth management, as well as five mortgage broking staff and a number of outsourced personnel.

AZ NGA chief executive Paul Barrett said McLean Delmo Bentleys is a quality organisation with “an exciting blend of experience and youth”.

“This business has been around for over 50 years, it has a great reputation and rock-solid foundations, but it still maintains a strong appetite for growth and is looking to the future,” he said.

“For AZ NGA, there are only two reasons to enter into a strategic partnership: capability and capacity. McLean Delmo Bentleys offers both. They are a clear leader in the mid-tier accounting space and this is a significant and important deal for us.”

Chairman of McLean Delmo Bentleys, John Delmo, said the group’s strategic partnership with AZ NGA presented an opportunity to accelerate growth through mergers and acquisitions.

In the last seven years, the firm has made five acquisitions including three last year.

“Our organic growth is strong, but we’re always open to M&A opportunities,” Mr Delmo said.

“The war for talent is making things very difficult for some accounting and advice businesses, and many are looking for a partner with [the] capacity and the ability to help them better serve their clients.

“Our size and scale put us in a unique position. We are able to provide structure, systems and processes, and opportunities for staff career development and progression.”

“With AZ NGA, we’re in an even stronger position to attract accounting, advice and wealth management businesses.”

McLean Delmo Bentleys has over 2,000 clients and is part of the Bentleys Network.

This is the latest of many firms that AZ NGA has acquired a stake in and follows multidisciplinary advisory business SCM Financial Group (formerly Scholten Collins McKissock) joining AZ NGA’s network of accounting and financial advisory firms in November.