Buy-and-build IFA acquirers whose board is led by experienced heavy-weight industry leaders passionate about client-centric advice and exceptional delivery with the backing of private equity have already acquired £800m of assets under management and are seeking to acquire multiple firms ranging from Funds under Management of £50m upwards with no maximum across all parts of the UK.
USPs of
- Offering independence with open architecture
- Clients can remain on existing investment mandates
- Advice is “goal based investing” which matches clients ATR suitability for the purposes of individual savings pots
- Four Client Service propositions range from 0.4% to 1%
- Not a race for assets – focus on quality businesses and quality people
- Risk of book will determine share or asset purchase
- Competitive multiples of recurring income or EBITDA as appropriate
- Advisers KPIs are “values based” to maximise client retention
- Preferred platform for like-minded, client-centric businesses, particularly those who want to retire and exit or those who have reached a certain stage in their development and need both funding and scale to fulfil the next part of their development.
Acquisition types
- Hubs (typically £300m – £500m+ FuM)
- Regional (typically £150m FuM with 2 – 5 Advisers)
- Book of Business (typically from £50m FuM with 1 – 2 Advisers)
Regions
- Scotland / Northern Ireland *
- Northern
- Midlands *
- London & South East *
- South West & Wales *
* The business currently has 77 staff across 6 offices in regions with an asterisk (Jan 2022)
Acquisition Deal Value
Highly competitive multiple of recurring income or normalised EBITDA with typically 50% paid upfront, 25% at 12 months and 25% at 24 months.
Deals are bespoke to each vendor and can include equity in our client as part of the deal, if desired.
This is ideal for Financial Advisors / IFA Firms where:
- IFAs have a minimum of £50m of Funds under Management
- Or this is a medium or large sized IFA firm as there is no restriction on the upper level of Funds under Management
- Average client holdings are irrelevant – all clients will be serviced appropriately
- You are considering retirement or
- You are not ready to retire but looking to create a capital event where you have reached a certain stage in your development and need both funding and scale to fulfil the next part of your development
- You have DB pension transfers that meet FCA ‘Gold Standard’ and don’t want to be excluded from competitive deal terms and happy to have a deep audit of their suitability
- Clients can remain on existing investment mandates through open architecture
- Advisers and Staff can remain post sale
The Company
Our client operates as a holistic firm of independent financial advisers and employee benefit consultants. They are independent whole of market with open architecture allowing client investments to remain on existing mandates. Advisers have the flexibility to place investments on or off platform and use all platforms or providers from the whole of market. They are developing their own DFM capability (pending discretionary permissions) to add to theircentralized investment process, however this will be horizontally integrated range of services. This combination will enable clients to choose the best solution for them, maintaining independence.
Technology and efficient processes are at the heart of how our client provides a consistent, compliant, and efficient service to their clients. Systems are available through the cloud, meaning all staff and clients can access 24/7 from any environment including app based too!
The firm has a strong client-centric business where the quality of Advisers and support staff is exceptional, and all are required to meet their brand values which is reflective of how they want to conduct themselves across everything they do to make solutions for clients a priority and a good place to work. Any bonuses are KPI dependent.
As such they are an attractive platform for business owners who are:
So often, business owners are distracted by the complexities of running an IFA business— be it PIInsurance, MIFIID II, SMCR, compliance, accounting, business management, recruitment — all areas which take them away from their focus on their clients. Our client manage all of these areas centrally, allowing vendors to enjoy and realise their key strengths.
As well as providing financial planning advice to individuals and private clients the firm have corporate planners and employee benefit consultants who advise major corporates and their staff.
IFA Client Bank Criteria
- Nationwide locations – all firm sizes from £50m FuM upwards with no maximum
- High quality client banks seeking holistic financial planning
- No minimum average investment holdings per client household as the firm are advocates of financial planning advice for everyone
- DB pension transfers will be considered based on due diligence of file checking meeting FCA ‘gold standard’ guidelines
- Vendor having a cultural fit around client ethics and values shared with the acquirer
Acquisition Benefits
- Simple deal structure based on recurring income for books of business or EBITDA for larger firms with a team of Advisers and support staff that will remain post sale
- Efficient due diligence process
- Competitive deal terms
- Growth capital already in place via Private Equity partner
- Senior leadership team already in place to support integration and growth led by experienced industry leaders
Locations
- Nationwide
Call us now on 0208 0044 162 to discuss this further
Liability and Disclaimer
The information contained in our advert including any on target earnings information are given in good faith and IFA Acquisitions Ltd uses all reasonable efforts to ensure that it is accurate. However, IFA Acquisitions Ltd gives no representation or warranty in respect of such information and all such representations and warranties, whether express or implied, are excluded. No liability is accepted by IFA Acquisitions Ltd for any loss or damage which may arise out of any person relying on or using any information within this advert.