Acquisition of Admiral Wealth Management

RNS Number : 1681C

Kingswood Holdings Limited

17 June 2021

 

17th June 2021

Acquisition of Admiral Wealth Management

Kingswood Holdings Limited ("Kingswood") announces an agreement to acquire Admiral Wealth Management, a North Lincolnshire based Chartered Financial Planning firm, consolidating, and adding scale to its existing presence across North Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.

The transaction boosts Kingswood's UK client facing advisory team to 66 people and increases UK funds under advice/management to £3.5 billion from circa 8,500 active clients.

Kingswood Group AuA now totals over £6.2 billion from global retail and institutional clients.

Kingswood Holdings Limited (AIM: KWG), the international, fully integrated wealth and investment management group, is pleased to announce it has agreed to acquire, subject to regulatory approval,   Admiral Wealth Management Limited (Admiral) a high quality, established Chartered Financial Planning firm based in North Lincolnshire.  

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 Acquisition

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.   

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.

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.

For further details, please contact:

Kingswood Holdings Limited	[phone]
David Lawrence	www.kingswood-group.com
Peel Hunt LLP (Nomad and Broker)	[phone]
James Britton / Rishi Shah
GreenTarget (for Kingswood media) Jamie Brownlee / Alice Gasson / Ellie Basle	[phone] [e-mail]
Stand Agency (for Pollen Street media) Cait Dacey	[phone] [e-mail]

About Kingswood

Kingswood Holdings Limited (trading as Kingswood) is an AIM-listed (AIM: KWG) international fully integrated wealth management group with circa 6.1 billion of Assets under Advice and Management. It services circa 8,000 clients from a growing network of offices in the UK including Abingdon, Beverley, Darlington, Derby, Grimsby, Hull, Lincoln, London, Maidstone, Newcastle, Sheffield (2), Worcester and York with overseas offices in Johannesburg, South Africa and Atlanta, New York and San Diego in the US.

Kingswood offers a range of trusted investment solutions to its clients, which range from private individuals to some of the UK's largest universities and institutions, including investment advice and management, personal and company pensions and wealth planning. Kingswood is focused on becoming a leading player in the wealth and investment management market through targeted acquisitions in the UK and US, creating a global business through strategic partnerships.

About Pollen Street Capital

Pollen Street is one Europe's leading specialist private equity investors in the financial and business services sectors, having invested over £2.0 billion since 2003 in a range of financial services businesses across all stages of development. PSC works with entrepreneurial management teams to build businesses that deliver market-leading products and services to their customers to create long-term sustainable success. Pollen Street has considerable experience of the UK mortgage market and in executing buy-and-build strategies.

 

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