Global advice and wealth management firm Kingswood has acquired two UK financial advisory firms for a combined total of around £8.6m.
JCH Investment Management serves clients in the Lincolnshire area. It has three advisers and a total of seven employees, managing over £105m ($120m, €122m) on behalf of 240 customers.
Employee Benefit Solutions (EBS) is based in Buckinghamshire and offers a range of financial advice and planning services. It also has three lead advisers and a total of seven staff, with more than £135m in assets under advice.
Kingswood will pay total cash considerations of up to £5.08m and £3.5m for EBS and JCH, respectively.
For EBS, £2.75m will be paid at closing and the remainder on a deferred basis over five years; while for JCH, £2.1m will be paid once receiving regulatory approval with the balance payable over a two-year period.
Kingswood said the two acquisitions bring its client-facing advice team to over 110 staff, with UK & Ireland funds under advice/management surpassing £8bn and global assets under advice hitting more than £10bn.
Non-stopping expansion
David Lawrence, Kingswood Group chief executive, said: “[The JCH] acquisition allows us to consolidate our existing footprint in Lincolnshire and in doing so create a scalable hub from which to grow. On completion, the existing Kingswood team will co-locate with the JCH team in the JCH premises.”
While acquiring JCH will expand Kingswood’s presence in Lincolnshire, the EBS deal allows the wealth giant to enter new counties in the UK.
Lawrence added: “For over 30 years, EBS have a long-established presence in Buckinghamshire. They have a simple aim; to make complicated financial matters as simple as possible to help clients meet their goals and make their life as easy as possible. This mirrors what we strive for at Kingswood.
“Kingswood continues to be an acquisitive business and has a further five purchase transactions under exclusive due diligence that we expect to close in the coming months. Our near-term target is to build our UK AuA/M in excess of £10bn and £14bn globally.”
