The SimplyBiz Group, which provides support services to financial advice firms, has already bolstered its acquisition service just two weeks after it launched.
The firm has partnered with mergers and acquisition specialist Wealth Holdings to support delivery of its ‘Horizon’ offering, which provides end-to-end support for firms both preparing to sell their business and those interested in expanding through acquisition.
Wealth Holdings, founded in 2013, is a specialist advisory and consultancy firm focusing on M&A, succession planning and post-deal integration within the wealth management, financial services and fintech sectors.
It will offer one-to-one consultation for firms that are considering buying another advisory business.
Andrew Smith, executive chairman of Wealth Holdings, said: “In a crowded market, we will ensure businesses are transferred to people who care about them and operate in a similar way and with the same high level of integrity.”
Major interest
The Horizon service is headed up by SimplyBiz Group compliance director, Gary Kershaw, and ex-Sanlam Wealth chief executive, Alex Morley.
Kershaw said: “The team at Wealth Holdings has a huge amount of knowledge and experience when it comes to buying and selling advisory businesses.
“With Wealth Holdings and Alex we now have a team that have bought, worn and sold the T-shirts. We know how important this service is to many advisory firms, so we have recruited the best team in the industry to support our members.
“We are only two weeks into our launch and to have received interest from over 100 firms is unbelievable. The next step for us is to operate a consultancy programme for both sellers and buyers so they can go into this process armed with important knowledge and understanding.
“This will launch on the 1 September and is available to every member firm of The SimplyBiz Group.”
