Co-Pilot Finance and Insurance (CPFI) has acquired Queensland-based commercial brokerage Loanezi for an undisclosed amount, as the Sydney-headquartered franchise network continues to scale nationally.
"This is absolutely part of our growth strategy," George Dib, co-founder and chief executive officer of Co-Pilot, told Australian Broker. "We're a national brand. Our idea is that we either organically grow the footprint across the country, or we acquire businesses, as well, that just make sense for the overall product offering that we have in the business."
Sydney-based Co-Pilot was founded by Dib, (pictured above right) who has a background in finance, alongside Peter Magoulias (above left), a former broker, in early 2025. Magoulias serves as head of agency.
The financial firm focuses on lending, including asset finance and business finance, as well as insurance needs for small- and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Since conception, Co-Pilot has opened 15 agencies, or brokerage locations, throughout three states in Australia: New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. Co-Pilot originally had a presence in South Australia but closed its offices. The firm now has its sights set on opening a total of 100 locations by the end of calendar year 2027.
"Where other store networks like ours are trying to get to the 400 or 500 [location] mark-plus, we don't want to," Dib said. "We want to get to 100, and it's specifically because we know that number is profitable. Strategically, we know that our franchises will be able to perform. We're going to perform exceptionally well if we don't try to saturate the market with our franchises, and that's why we're going to be very particular in what we either acquire [moving forward], or what we bring on organically.
"We've taken a slow approach and we're very strategic about the type of clients we're looking after, that we're not exposing ourselves to too much risk by just having a high concentration in just one asset class," he continued.
The co-founder added that, in addition to the physical expansion in the next year, "there'll be a couple more acquisitions that will sit in there as well."
Co-Pilot primarily plays in the small and lower middle-market, with loans anywhere from $60,000 to $5 million. In addition to the firm's broker channel, Co-Pilot also offers a direct-to-consumer channel.
The addition of Loanezi, which was founded by Renee Tocco, fits the greater company strategy, Dib said.
"We don't have a current presence on the Gold Coast and we think that enables us to continuously grow our footprint," he explained. "So we just thought, you know what, this is a great fit.
"And we've generated business, since inception, predominantly via our referral partners, where her business has been direct-to-customer," the CEO continued. "Renee didn't really go down the referral partner network; she went direct-to-customer. We like that because it means from a product perspective we have an ability to sell everything that we essentially have as part of our business, and it just diversifies the type of client that comes into our business by acquiring something like Loanezi."
Dib described Tocco as "an entrepreneur at heart," and said what attracted Co-Pilot to Loanezi was "the way Renee operates. She has a highly relationship-driven business. Renee's developed a database of clientele that absolutely matches exactly what we're going for. And that's exactly like what we are. We focus specifically on the business owner, on their finance and insurance needs. And that's her too. The majority of the clients who she has seen in her business are business buyers."
Tocco, who until recently served as managing director of Loanezi, founded the firm in 2016. She sold Loanezi to Prospa in the spring of 2021, only to buy it back in early 2023.
On Loanezi's next chapter, she said: "I have absolute confidence in the CPFI model, and I know the business is in the best possible hands."
Dib said Tocco intends to exit the business in the coming months for another endeavor. But he added that Co-Pilot plans to have Tocco serve as a non-executive director in the future.
"Because we've got such a close relationship with her," Dib explained. "We've known her for 10-plus years now. Anything that we need from her, some advisory stuff as well, she'll still be there essentially playing more of a strategic role for us in the business. But not operating.
"We've been working with Renee over the course of the last four to five months in transitioning the business over to us," he added. "It currently stands as Loanezi powered by Co-Pilot. And for the next couple of years we're going to keep it the same, and then we'll transition the clients over to becoming Co-Pilot clients."
The deal, which includes Loanezi’s intellectual property, database and digital assets, alongside the brokerage’s brand, was closed in September. Dib declined to comment on financials, but confirmed it was a 100% buyout.
The acquisition comes amid an uncertain market, characterised by higher interest rates, inflationary pressures and rising costs of living, a revised federal budget that has reduced tax incentives, and declining consumer and business confidence, all contributing to broader market volatility.
But Dib said: "We're not scared. Everything that we do is strategic. The focus of our business is to help business owners. And we're uniquely placed in the market to look after the clients who are currently underserviced, and they're business owners. I think comparative to other businesses, as well, where they focus on one specific segment in the market — like, for example, there can be an asset finance broker, or a mortgage broker, or an insurance broker — we have the capability to be able to service clients across all of those products. Our ability to be able to take a hit on one segment, and then grow in the other gives us that. We're not so concentrated in one part of the market."
