Crowe Horwath Australasia was locked in meetings with key staff...

Crowe Horwath Australasia was locked in meetings with key staff members on Friday, as it continues to work through takeover discussions with KKR Asset Management-backed Findex Australia.
Sources said Crowe Horwath had scheduled meetings with partners in Sydney and Melbourne for Friday, and was preparing to address staff in New Zealand, Brisbane and Adelaide early next week.
The meetings were to allow Spiro Paule, who runs Findex, to introduce himself to key staff, sources said, and allow him to explain why putting the two businesses together made sense.
It is understood Crowe Horwath partners were asked to submit questions ahead of the meetings, although it is not known how much management will be able to reveal about the takeover given the ASX-listed company’s disclosure requirements.
The meetings come as Crowe Horwath’s audit staff question their future under the Findex proposal. Rightly or wrongly, audit is not seen as central to Findex’s strategy, and key principals from the division have been considering their team’s future.
Crowe Horwath announced on Wednesday it had received “an updated conditional, non-binding and indicative proposal” from financial services group Findex.
Terms of the deal, including price and the structure of the transaction, were “incomplete” Crowe company secretary Bruce Paterson said.
Findex is the country’s largest non-aligned and privately owned financial advisory company. Its businesses have more than $8 billion under portfolio management.

Good luck to holders.