Harwood Wealth Management has added £310m assets under advice to its books in the six months to 30 April,, with the total consideration totalling £10.9m. This equates to an average business valuation of 3.5% of FUM – a very lofty valuation in the market.
Of this £10.9m, £6.7m (representing 61% upfront payments – beating the industry average of 50%) was paid as an upfront payment. This aligns with the group’s usual ‘earn-out’ model, which will see the rest of the consideration paid over the next two years, dependent upon performance criteria.
The most significant deal was made for Southampton-based IFA AE Financial Services in March, worth £4.6m. Harwood Wealth Group also acquired Plan65 and Ascot-based Fund Management for £1.1m, where Gunner & Co. acted as broker introducers.
The acquisitions were described as ‘high-quality’ and stable, in a press release from Harwood Wealth Management Group chairman, Peter Mann;
“I am pleased to report that the team has managed to execute nine deals over the period, several of which were of a large scale and all of which are excellent additions to our business. The frequency with which we are managing to complete on acquisitions of stable, high-quality businesses with strong client bases demonstrates the rich pool of opportunities available to Harwood, alongside our excellent reputation for acquisition and integration. We look forward to reporting further details in our interim statement next month.”
If you would like to know more about selling your business to Harwood Wealth contact louise.jeffreys@gunnerandco.com
