CVC Advisors Limited led consortium through indirectly owned Harp Bidco Limited, has made final cash offer to acquire Hargreaves Lansdown plc (HL) at the rate of 1,140 pence in cash/share.

The cash offer values HL’s entire issued, and to be issued, ordinary share capital at approximately £5.443 billion on a fully diluted basis.

Hargreaves Lansdown plc (HL) is one of the leading UK investment platforms with an impressive position and a strong purpose in the attractive UK wealth market.

HL is expected to benefit from numerous tailwinds over the coming decade, driven by increased individual responsibility for savings, pension freedom, an aging population, further digitalisation of the wealth process, the increasing importance of data, and AI-led activities.

At the same time, the direct-to-consumer market will become significantly more competitive, driven by a combination of increasing sophistication of established competitors, technology advancements and new entrants continuing to disrupt the market.

Commenting on this announcement, Alison Platt, the Chair of HL, said: “HL is on an important journey to transform the saving and investing experience for clients and make it easy to save and invest for a better future.

While the Independent HL Board has been pleased with the progress made by the new management team, the Independent HL Board believes that the Cash Offer represents an attractive opportunity for HL Shareholders to realise an immediate and certain cash value for their investment at a level which may not be achievable until the execution of the strategy is delivered over the medium to longer term, and therefore intends to unanimously recommend HL Shareholders vote to approve it.

We are pleased to see that the Consortium is aligned that HL has an important purpose making it easy for the UK consumer to save and invest for a better future.”

Pev Hooper, Managing Partner at CVC Private Equity Group, Emil Anderson, Partner at Nordic Capital Advisors and Hamad Shahwan Aldhaheri, Executive Director of the Private Equities Department at ADIA said in a joint statement: “HL has an important purpose: to make it easy for people to save and invest for a better future. Over the 40 years since it was founded, HL has built a strong, trusted brand, underpinned by high levels of customer loyalty and advocacy.

As a consortium, we are aligned with management that, despite these strengths, the company now requires substantial investment in an extensive technology-led transformation to improve HL’s proposition and resilience, and to drive the next phase of HL’s growth and development.

The Consortium brings extensive experience in supporting businesses undergoing transformation, and its members have long records of investing in regulated financial services companies to build better businesses and create better customer experiences.

We look forward to partnering with HL’s management to accelerate its transformation plan – including investment in technology infrastructure, digital channels, and service enhancement – all with client value, service, speed of innovation, and HL’s clear purpose at the core.”

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