Oaktree completes AZ NGA controlling stake acquisition

On Tuesday morning, AZ Next Generation Advisory (AZ NGA) and Azimut announced they have completed the sale of a majority interest in AZ NGA to funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management.

Oaktree is now the group’s largest shareholder following the $240 million acquisition, while Azimut management and business owners have retained a “strategic stake” in the company.

“AZ NGA, Azimut and Oaktree are committed to working together to accelerate M&A activity, drive organic growth and cement AZ NGA’s position as Australia’s finest professional services company,” the firm said in a statement.

AZ NGA chief executive Paul Barrett said: “We are extremely privileged and excited to work with a world class strategic investor like Oaktree.

“We have ambitious goals to triple in size over the 3-5 years, through a combination of M&A and organic growth, and our strategic partnership with Oaktree gives us the capital to fund our short-to-medium term plans and continue enhancing our proposition to accounting and advice businesses.

“In the next 12 months, our focus is on accelerating our Super firm program, ramping up M&A activity, key transformation initiatives and continuing to elevate to a high-performance culture.”

Massimo Guiati, Azimut Holding CEO and AZ NGA chairman, said Azimut is “committed to AZ NGA for the long-term” and that the firm would continue to work with Oaktree.

Oaktree managing director Byron Beath added: “AZ NGA has successfully enabled business owners and their clients to simultaneously grow their practices while effectively managing ownership succession, which is critical for the natural evolution of quality businesses.

“This achievement is a testament to the exceptional leadership of Paul and his team.

“By providing additional capital through this transaction, AZ NGA will further enhance their ability to execute on their plan of organic and inorganic growth, empowering their talented staff to be the national leader of providing financial advice and services.”

The deal was first announced in October, with the firms at the time signalling their plans to work together to accelerate acquisition and integration activity and enhance AZ NGA’s position as the growth and succession partner of choice for financial advisory and accounting firms in Australia.

Earlier this year, AZ NGA announced it had acquired stakes in 16 advice practices from AMP for $82.2 million, with the intention of helping those practices with their M&A goals.

“We are just so thrilled to be able to invest in such quality organisations, and brick by brick create a substantial financial services company,” Barrett said.

“Ultimately, these 16 firms in the portfolio have all the same problems and ambitions that our core firms in the AZ NGA portfolio have. We are very accustomed to working with them and solving those problems around succession and growth.”