… but spends $960,000 for share of SA planning group

On the same day as it wrote off $2.2 million closing down its own dealer group DKN spent almost $1 million acquiring an unspecified share of the Adelaide-based Tulare Financial Planners business.

In a statement to the ASX, DKN said it would pay $960,000 for Tulare – 80 per cent upon completion of the deal – which has $110 funds under management and a client base of close to 2,000. The Tulare deal is the third such arrangement for DKN which also has minority share-holdings in the Queensland-based Quill Group and another South Australian entity, Goldsborough Financial Services. Following the closure of its owner dealership, Deakin, which was finalised last week, DKN said it would no longer act as a licensee to provide advice and the groups it has bought into retain their own licences. Phil Butterworth, DKN chief, said in the ASX statement that its strategy of buying a stake in several dealer groups has proved successful for the group with profit contributions and further support for DKN’s products and services. One of DKN’s flagship products is its badged BT wrap Austchoice. Multi-manager Select Funds Management, which recently merged with Tower spin-off Australian Wealth Management, also has a significant stake in DKN. Butterworth said DKN has also proved attractive to smaller dealers because the listed firm can help with succession planning. “Our ability to assist those groups wanting to stay outside the institutional framework is of huge interest to them. Tulare is the latest example of DKN assisting a company that is looking for strategic support to address their succession needs and growth opportunities,” he said. John Rudajs, Tulare founder, planned to scale down his involvement in the business and sell on to his colleagues Kym Cotter and Matthew Loveder. DKN said the sale was conditional on Cotter and Loveder confirming their funding arrangements.