Mattioli Woods acquires advice firm for £7m

twitter-iconfacebook-iconlinkedin-iconmail-iconprint-icon
Search supported by
Mattioli Woods acquires advice firm for £7m

Mattioli Woods has acquired advice firm Pole Arnold Financial Management in a deal worth up to £7m.

The deal with the Leicester-based firm will see Mattioli pay £4m up front and a further £3m on meeting performance targets in the two years after completion.

Established in 2012, Pole Arnold provides advice to about 360 private and corporate clients with approximately £245m of assets under management and advice.  

Its 16-strong team will all remain with Mattioli Woods following completion of the deal.

Ian Mattioli, chief executive officer of Mattioli Woods, said: "We are delighted to welcome Mike and his experienced team as part of Mattioli Woods.

"I have known Mike for many years and admired how he and his team have grown a great business, built on a strong client-focussed culture and a commitment to going the extra mile.  

“The transaction expands the group's presence in both Leicester and London, underlining our commitment to continuing growing both organically and by acquisition."

Much like Mattioli Woods, Pole Arnold specialises in fee-based financial planning.

In the year ended March 31, 2020 Pole Arnold generated revenues of £2.11m with a pretax profit of £0.81m. Gross assets stood at £1.12m and net assets were £0.63m, including £0.96m of cash.  

The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in the first full year of ownership.

Mike Pole, Pole Arnold's managing director, said the regulatory burden was one of the main reasons he wanted to sell the business.

Pole said: “The increasing resources and regulatory burden needed to run a professional advisory business led us to explore options to ensure the long term continuity of our quality advisory service to our clients.  

“With a larger and more comprehensive infrastructure and support team behind us with shared values and culture, we can achieve the economies of scale to keep down the spiralling costs of regulation and compliance.”

He added: “We have known a number of the senior management team at Mattioli Woods for 25 years, and given their successful track record we are looking forward to joining forces with them to achieve our objectives and to secure our advisory services to our clients.

"It is very much business as usual. I and my co-directors Mike Nevill, Rob Bunting and Richard Todd continue in the business, as well as all of our support team in our Leicester office".

Back in February, Mattioli Woods acquired Twickenham-based wealth management firm Montagu, in a deal worth up to £2.34m.

At the end of 2019 it acquired Glasgow-based Turris Partnership in a deal worth up to £1.6m, and last year (March 2020), it acquired private client adviser and asset manager Hurley Partners in a deal worth up to £25.6m.

amy.austin@ft.com

What do you think about the issues raised by this story? Email us on FTAletters@ft.com to let us know