Ophir Asset Management, a Sydney-based investment business, has provided $5 million to BlueRock, a professional services company, according to information obtained by Street Talk.
With the financing, BlueRock will expedite its expansion plans and Ophir will join as a strategic partner. The company wants to expand its use of AI and automation technologies, strengthen its ties to sales and marketing, and pursue an acquisition plan in untapped regions.
Ad Astra Corporate Advisory and Clearsight Advisors provided BlueRock with advice. In August 2023, the company began investigating capital partnerships, generating interest from both domestic and foreign investors.
The company told Street Talk that BlueRock ultimately chose to work with Ophir Asset Management because of their same cultural principles and because of Ophir’s substantial experience in the listed market, which is especially important as BlueRock is thinking about listing in the near future.
Ophir joins Everything is Awesome (EIA), a BlueRock-registered entrepreneurial advice business, as an institutional shareholder. Listed Australian and international equities are the asset manager’s main focus, but it has been gradually branching out into unlisted assets, obtaining exposure to the ASX-hopeful Mason Stevens.
Andrew Mitchell and Steven Ng, who jointly launched the small- and mid-cap equity firm in 2012, are in charge of managing approximately $1 billion in invested funds at Ophir.
In FY24, BlueRock is expected to bring in more than $70 million in sales and $10 million in EBITDA. Its revenue climbed by 40% year over year from approximately $21 million in 2020 to $56 million in the previous year due to increased market share and customer cross-selling, which included the addition of services like estate planning and business counseling. Unquestionably, a sharp increase in prices in the service sector has also boosted revenue.
In 2008, tax accountant Peter Lalor founded BlueRock. The company is essentially divided into two sections: Your Business, which provides traditional services like payroll, tax advice, and digital transformation, and Your Life, which provides services for individuals like financial planning and family trust administration. BlueRock serves as a “one-stop shop” for businesses that employ more than 300 people.
In 2022, the company went on the rampage of acquisitions, albeit smaller ones, acquiring Crawshay Consultants, a payroll services company, Prime Consulting Services, an account firm located in Melbourne, Marsh and Maher Richmond Bennison Lawyers, a commercial legal services firm, and Broadbent Financial, an asset management company.
