SMSF advice firm Eureka Whittaker Macnaught will merge with Brisbane-based Blue Harbour Financial Partners in an effort to bolster the firms’ value proposition to their clients.
The merger will see both businesses retain their brands in the short term and the combined entity will employ 32 people, including 14 financial advisers, across five locations. Eureka Whittaker Macnaught co-founder and chief executive Greg Cook and general manager Sally Bell will head up the management team of the business.
According to Cook, the merger is focused on enhancing the firm’s scalability in providing superannuation, retirement and estate planning advice and services as part of its broader growth strategy.
“I’m very excited about our future. Our mission is to be our clients’ trusted adviser and the ringmaster of their financial affairs, which is a key driver behind our growth strategy and recent decision to establish a mortgage and lending business,” he said.
“We also have great capability with self-managed super and aged-care advice, and we have great advice relationships with industry superannuation.
“Eureka Whittaker Macnaught has experienced strong growth, both organically and through mergers and acquisitions, and we have ambitious plans to become a formidable, multidisciplinary super firm.”
Blue Harbour Financial Partners chief executive Todd Hitchcock welcomed the announcement and said he was looking forward to working alongside the team at Eureka Whittaker Macnaught to expand service offerings to existing and potential clients.
“I’ll still be involved in the business and I’m always thinking about the future to ensure that the business will be around for a long time to serve our people and our clients,” Hitchcock said.
Both Eureka Whittaker Macnaught and Blue Harbour Financial Partners are part of the AZ NGA Group, a collective of financial advisory firms.