London-headquartered MWA Financial (MWA) has entered into a partnership deal with alternative finance provider ThinCats to support the group’s plans to build a national firm of IFAs.
ThinCats has made an initial commitment of £8.5m in funding, with longer term ability to offer up to £15m ($18m, €17m) and beyond.
The partnership with ThinCats marks the start of “phase two” for the owner-managed MWA, which will see it complete on a number of “live acquisitions” designed to take adviser numbers to more than 30 and assets under advice above £1bn over the next 12-to-18 months.
MWA was launched by chief executive Campbell Banks in 2016 with the ambition of recreating an Australia-style advice model in the UK. Banks has more than 25 years’ experience developing financial advice networks in Australia for organisations including ING, Axa Asia Pacific and AMP.
Ed Rosengarten joined the business in 2021 as executive chairman to help execute and accelerate its growth strategy. Before joining MWA, Rosengarten was head of funds at Smith & Williamson and, prior to that, spent 20 years at M&G, latterly as chief executive of the firm’s equity business.
The MWA group currently includes Hertfordshire-based Eversley Wealth Management, Hampshire-based Prosperity and Essex-based CHC Wealth Management, and has in excess of £400m AuA.
‘Carefully selected acquisitions’
Rosengarten said: “With the phase one foundations successfully in place, our focus for phase two is on accelerating adviser and asset growth through carefully selected acquisitions and targeted organic growth.
“The partnership with ThinCats provides us with the complementary capital required to execute our strategy, positioning MWA as an attractive and capable owner-managed alternative to the abundant acquirers in the market.”
Stuart Thompson, head of transitional capital at ThinCats, said: “Ed and Cam have established a distinctive and attractive proposition which has all the ingredients to build on its tremendous success to date.
“Our transitional capital funding is designed to support fast growing businesses pursuing a buy-and-build strategy such as MWA, so are delighted to be playing our part in its exciting plans for the future.”
