Acquisition of Money Matters (North East)

RNS Number : 3071S

Kingswood Holdings Limited

15 November 2021

 

KINGSWOOD HOLDINGS LIMITED

Acquisition of Money Matters (North East)

Kingswood Holdings Limited ("Kingswood") announces an agreement to acquire Money Matters (North East) Limited ("MMNE"). MMNE is a privately owned wealth management business, primarily offering its services to clients in the North-East.

The transaction boosts Kingswood's UK client facing advisory team to 69 people and increases UK funds under advice/management to 4.6 billion from circa 8,000 active clients.

Kingswood Group AuA now totals over 6.3 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, Money Matters (North East) Limited, a privately owned wealth management business, primarily offering its services in the North East of England.

David Lawrence, UK CEO at Kingswood,  commented:

"Since becoming UK CEO late last year, I have focused on building momentum in the business and expanding our capabilities to integrate and grow. I am thrilled to announce our acquisition of MMNE and look forward to welcoming Alastair Raine, Chris Woodhams and the whole team to Kingswood.

"Both Chris and Alastair have extensive experience as financial advisers and started MMNE in 2010 with a vision to combine their extensive expertise together to create a client centred business which is a vision that we share at Kingswood.

"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 MMNE team to deliver a superior level of service to their clients. I am really looking forward to working with Chris and Alastair as we further grow the business as part of the Kingswood Group.

"We remain committed to perpetuating our stated growth strategy within the UK and internationally. This is our second acquisition of 2021 and we continue to have a strong pipeline of high-quality UK opportunities under negotiation, six of which are in exclusive due diligence as we continue to grow our financial planning and investment management reach across the UK. We expect to be making more announcements over the coming weeks.''

About MMNE

MMNE is an independent financial adviser firm based in Redcar, North Yorkshire and they advise on all aspects of personal financial planning with clients that range from private individuals to small/medium sized businesses. MMNE currently employs 13 people, including three financial advisers, managing c.£115m AUA on behalf of c.600 active clients. In the year to 31 March 2021, MMNE generated profit before tax of £425k and had net assets of £499k as at that date.

Following regulatory approval, the business will be acquired for total cash consideration of up to £3.4m, payable over a two year period. 1.7m 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.

Alastair Raine / Chris Woodhams, company principals at MMNE commented:

"We spoke to many firms with the primary aim of finding a firm with a very similar culture of placing the clients at the heart of everything we do, whilst focusing on staff welfare and progression. Kingswood fits these criteria perfectly.

"We have been searching for the right business to embrace our culture, philosophy, and principles in continuing to provide the highest quality, client focused financial advice.

"We feel the prospect of being part of a larger organisation allows us to address the challenges of dealing with increasing regulatory change whilst enhancing the service to existing clients and creating the potential for future growth. These were the key factors in joining the Kingswood Group.

We are delighted to have found such a firm in Kingswood, who will further enhance our client proposition and present an exciting new opportunity for all our staff that have helped us to grow the business over the last 11 years."

Consideration

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.

For further details, please contact:

Kingswood Holdings Limited	[phone]
David Lawrence	www.kingswood-group.com
finnCap Ltd (Nomad & Broker)	[phone]
Stuart Andrews / Simon Hicks / Abigail Kelly (Corporate Finance)   Richard Chambers (ECM)
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 6.3 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 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.

Registered office address: Mont Crevelt House, Bulwer Avenue, St. Sampson, Guernsey, GY2 4LH

 

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