LONDON, UK: Kingswood Holdings Limited has agreed to acquire Admiral Wealth Management Limited, a Chartered Financial Planning firm based in North Lincolnshire.
Following regulatory approval, the business will be acquired for a cash consideration of £4.0 million, payable over a 2-year period. £2.0 million will be paid at closing and the balance paid on a deferred basis some of which is subject to the achievement of pre-agreed performance targets.
David Lawrence, UK CEO at Kingswood, commented: “Since becoming UK CEO at the turn of the year, I have focussed on building momentum in the business and expanding our capabilities to integrate and grow. Our focus on enhancing the client experience is paying dividends and I am delighted that we now have approaching £200 million in our internal MPS. I am thrilled to announce our first acquisition under my leadership and look forward to welcoming Mike Biggin, Adam Harrison, and the Admiral team to Kingswood. Admiral is a highly regarded provider of financial advisory services in North Lincolnshire and Yorkshire having consistently delivered a high-quality service to clients for over 30 years.
“The Kingswood model is designed to provide a centralised, efficient support infrastructure to manage the routine, but time consuming tasks required across compliance, finance, human resources, risk and technology, allowing the Admiral team to deliver a superior level of service to their clients. I am delighted that Mike and Adam have agreed to stay with the business as it enters a new phase as part of the Kingswood Group and I very much look forward to working with them.
“We remain absolutely committed to perpetuating our stated growth strategy within the UK and internationally. Whilst this is our first acquisition of 2021, we have a strong pipeline of high-quality UK opportunities under negotiation, 4 of which are in exclusive due diligence representing pro-forma operating profit in excess of £2.5 million as we continue to grow our financial planning and investment management reach across the UK. Our international business under the leadership of Mike Nessim is on a similarly strong growth trajectory and where this week we have agreed exclusivity with a target business that on completion will contribute additional annual pro-forma operating profit of USD1.5 million.”
Admiral provides independent financial advice to individuals and corporates primarily in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. It currently employs 7 people, including 2 advisers managing c.£100 million AuA on behalf of c.600 active clients.
Admiral has been established for over 30 years and capably led by Peter and Carol Waller and Mike Biggin. Peter and Carol have decided to retire with Peter handing over his client relationships over the past year. Mike, along with senior consultant Adam Harrison will lead the business forward as part of the Kingswood group. The business delivered an operating profit of over £600k in the twelve months ended March 2020 through strong and consistent revenue delivery and a keen focus on driving high levels of recurring revenue.
The company has a highly qualified and experienced team of financial advisers supported by a dedicated support team. Admiral’s continued success is built around developing and maintaining long-term client relationships, making Admiral a perfect fit for Kingswood.
On completion, the acquisition will be funded from funds recently received by Kingswood from the issue of new convertible preference shares, under the terms of its Convertible Preference Share subscription agreement with HSQ INVESTMENT LIMITED, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of funds managed and/or advised by Pollen Street Capital Limited (Pollen Street).
Kingswood’s partnership with Pollen Street grows in strength, and to date has provided growth equity of £44.8 million to support existing and future acquisitions.
Kingswood Corporate Finance, the Company’s corporate advisory affiliate, supported the Company’s acquisition team in the due diligence process.
Kingswood Holdings Ltd
22.00 GBX
9 Jun, 2:41 pm GMT+1 · Disclaimer
LON: KWG
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