LONDON, UK: Kingswood Holdings Limited (LON: KWG), the international wealth and investment management group, has agreed to acquire Metnor Holdings Limited (IBOSS Group).

Metnor Holdings is based in Harrogate and is the holding company for IBOSS Asset Management Limited (IBOSS) and Novus Financial Services Limited.

The consideration payable to the shareholders of Metnor includes initial cash consideration of £9.6 million, paid on closing; a maximum of £6.4 million of deferred consideration, payable over a two year period, some of which is subject to the achievement of pre-agreed performance targets; and a performance based earn out linked to the three year EBITDA growth for IBOSS Asset Management Limited.

IBOSS Group is a leading provider of Managed Portfolio Services (MPS) and other investment solutions on both an advisory and discretionary basis to UK independent financial advisers (IFAs) under the leadership of Investment and Managing Director, Chris Metcalfe.

IBOSS has developed a leading service proposition, as recognised by a five star rating in the FT Adviser service awards and an enviable, long term track record of high performance with low volatility. Novus is a reputable regional IFA meeting the needs of clients based largely in the North of England.

On an underlying basis for the 12 month period to 31 October 2021, the IBOSS Group generated revenue of £3.3 million and EBITDA of £1.3 million. The IBOSS Group currently employs 29 people and has over 6,000 clients with over £1.4 billion of AUA/M. At 31 December 2020, the IBOSS Group had net assets of £3.1 million.

David Lawrence, UK CEO at Kingswood, commented: “My ambition when taking the reins of Kingswood’s UK business was, and remains, to create a leading financial advisory and investment management business and this transaction is a big step towards that goal.

“In the IBOSS Group, Chris Metcalfe has built a fantastic brand with a superb Investment track record. From our first meeting, we knew that blending the IBOSS Group with Kingswood would create something special in the sector, harnessing the IBOSS Group’s investment record, product range and open market IFA distribution with Kingswood’s existing discretionary investment expertise and rapidly growing financial planning businesses.

“The IBOSS brand and expertise will be retained, with Chris Metcalfe and his investment team remaining at the helm of the investment strategy, implementation and servicing. With Kingswood’s resources we aim to accelerate growth and create greater reach into the IFA sector. The transaction also allows Kingswood to leverage its successful track record in buying and integrating financial planning businesses by providing the capital to purchase financial planning businesses using IBOSS that wish to exit but don’t wish to risk the investment solution provided to their clients.

“Kingswood’s tailored Personal Portfolio Service (PPS) will strongly complement the Portfolio Management Services (PMS) and Managed Portfolio Services (MPS) products provided by IBOSS, with Kingswood also benefiting from IBOSS’ OEIC products, as together we develop a full range of investment solutions for clients.

“We remain committed to our growth strategy within the UK and internationally. This is our fourth acquisition of 2021, and we have a strong pipeline of high-quality UK opportunities under negotiation, four of which are in the exclusive due diligence stage.”

Chris Metcalfe Investment and Managing Director at Metnor commented: ”The synergy of Kingswood and IBOSS gives both parties an exceptional opportunity to enhance their client propositions and range of services. We had several potential suitors, but none realised the intrinsic value of how we manage money and the attraction for advisers that comes with our industry-leading service standards and client communications.

“As part of the Kingswood Group, we will offer our new and existing IBOSS users an exit strategy that will be one of the most attractive in the industry, something that adviser firms have been asking us to facilitate for some years now. We are pleased to be able to deliver precisely what advisers have asked for. For many adviser firms, continuing the investment proposition and not disturbing the client is extremely important.

“As we increase our range of investment services, we realised we would need to keep bolstering our team, especially in light of the Sustainable range, which is particularly research-heavy. Kingswood will offer us the ability to build up our investment team with no affect on to the strategy and methodology.”