CompaniesApr 23 2014

SimplyBiz buys estate planning and will writing specialist

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Adviser support services business SimplyBiz has announced the acquisition of estate planning, wills and probate support services provider APS Legal & Associates.

The acquisition includes the APS subsidiaries Simply Legal & Associates and Assured Probate Services, and marks the culmination of a six-year relationship between the two companies.

In 2008 Simplybiz confirmed a partnership with APS that saw members firms offered an exclusive professional will writing & estate planning legal service through a joint venture, SimplyBiz Legal Services.

The service also offered the option for members to diversify their own business and train as a legal consultant at the Centre of Excellence Legal Department through an ‘exclusively designed’ course.

Following the acquisition, SimplyBiz Group chairman Ken Davy will become chairman of the APS board.

Mr Davy said: “The purchase of APS creates an important opportunity for SimplyBiz to help the firms and advisers we serve further diversify their skills and improve income streams by enhancing their client services.”

SimplyBiz has had an acquisitive six months. In December it acquired a majority stake in employee benefits software provider Staffcare for an undisclosed sum.

It said in a statement that it has acquired approximately 80 per cent of the business, with Phil Hollingdale, founder and chief executive, and Graham Jarvis, head of global business and workplace savings, retaining the balance.

At the time of that acquisition, SimplyBiz Group said it hoped to take advantage of the growing employee benefits and auto-enrolment market in the wake of reforms to the pension market to target low-income employees.

The firm has also admitted its interest in buying Sesame Bankhall Group’s support services provider Bankhall if it was for sale, saying it could “restore it back to its glory years”.

Friends Life confirmed in February last year that Barclays Capital had been appointed to review options for the network, but a lack of interest that many attribute to liabilities attached to the 20-year-old network arm has given rise to speculation that the businesses may be split.