AFM Wealth, the holding company for advisory firm Absolute Financial Management, has secured a £5.3mn loan from OakNorth Bank to support its IFA acquisition programme.
Founded in February 2020, Kent-based AFM Wealth has acquired six small IFA firms since February 2021 including Cheesman & Groves, Manor Hurst Associates and most recently, Granite Financial Management.
Established in 1999 by co-founders, Mark Eaton and Spencer Watt, Absolute Financial Management now sits under the umbrella of AFM Wealth with assets under management exceeding £500mn and more than 4,500 clients.
Commenting on the loan, AFM Wealth director, Philip Hughes said: “The capital from OakNorth Bank will provide us with the financial firepower to accelerate our acquisition programme and be well-positioned to support customers through the challenging months and years ahead.”
“Like us, the OakNorth team put the customer experience at the heart of everything they do, and this was clear from the first interaction we had with them,” he added.
Established in 2015, OakNorth dubs itself the UK bank for entrepreneurs providing accessible debt finance to the UK’s “missing middle”.
OakNorth Bank’s director of debt finance, Stewart Haworth said that he is excited to support AFM on its growth journey going forward.
“The successes that Mark, Spencer and Philip have managed to achieve to date come as no surprise, given their vast experiences gained over several decades of working within the UK’s financial advisory space. With the sector set for significant growth over the next five years, AFM Wealth is in a prime position to capitalise on this opportunity,” he said.
According to IBIS World, the financial advisory sector is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.3 per cent from 2022-27, driven by businesses and consumers increasingly seeking financial advice following the pandemic.
Absolute Financial Management has a branch network across South East England, including in Ashford, Bognor Regis, Hastings and Colchester.
jane.matthews@ft.com
