Key Retirement has set aside £10m to expand across London and the south east through an “accelerated acquisition strategy”, according to Colin Taylor.
The money has been set aside with the backing of private equity investor Phoenix Equity Partners, which acquired a majority stake in Key Retirement in 2013.
The acquisitions will focus on retirement, wealth management and investment businesses.
It is part of Key Retirement’s bid to make the most of the growing at retirement market, which is, according to Towers Watson, forecast to treble to £50bn a year by 2023.
Colin Taylor, chief executive of Key Retirement Group, said: “Our objective is to accelerate our market-leading position by increasing our presence in the three core areas of retirement, investment and wealth management and offering wider access to advice.
“We are already seeing the massive positive impact of the new pension freedoms and have identified the potential for acquisition in London and the South East as a specific target in order to expand our face-to-face advisory footprint.”
He added that the company would be aiming for sustained, long-term growth.
Mr Taylor said he believed the demand for one-on-one advice will continue to grow as demand for advisory services accelerated, driven by pension freedoms and the growth in private wealth.
The acquisition strategy will be spearheaded by Key Retirement’s chief financial officer Simon Thompson.
Late last month the Equity Release Council revealed that equity release lending has surged to an all-time high following the pension freedoms.
Second quarter lending of £384.3m was the highest of any quarter since 2002.
Adviser View
Andrea Rozario, chief corporate officer at Bower Retirement Services, said: “Clearly the figures from the ERC reflect an increasing demand and, with the baby boomers looking to get into equity release, it is going to gather pace.
“With new entrants in the market such as L&G that will help facilitate growth and we will see more innovation.”
Background
Key Retirement Group was founded in 1998 and is based in Preston.
In 2014 it expanded its retirement lending division with the acquisition of V Loans, a specialist second-charge broker.
In the year to 31 December 2014, Key Retirement generated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £7m and it employs 310 people.
