Yellow Brick Road set to move on Vow
Mark Bouris's Yellow Brick Road, whose share register includes two prominent WA rich listers, has agreed the first of what could be three rapid-fire acquisitions by striking purchase terms for Vow Financial.
As flagged last week, YBR revealed yesterday it had made recommended offers for the unlisted mortgage aggregator's 24 shareholders.
The terms were not disclosed but two investors, chief executive Tim Brown and Macquarie, have already accepted for their combined 40 per cent of Vow.
YBR's swoop is consistent with its stated intent to build a diversified wealth management group in the non-bank space across mortgages, investment and insurance products.
The group, whose top-20 shareholders include Mineral Resources founder Chris Ellison and Navitas boss Rod Jones' family, confirmed last week it was looking over Vow.
The disclosure came shortly after Mr Bouris revealed it was in talks with three potential acquisitions. The others are said to include a mortgage manager.
Vow partners with 700 mortgage brokers and boasts an $18 billion loan book. It negotiates with lenders and collects up-front and trailing commissions on loans introduced by its partner brokers, pocketing fees and a share of the commissions.
In 2012-13, it made a net profit of $1.4 million on $63.3 million in revenue.
Macquarie also has 14.8 per cent of YBR. As well as Vow and YBR, the group has equity positions in WA's Homeloans Ltd and Australian Finance Group.
