Fund manager and wealth manager M&G is to acquire the national IFA firm Continuum (Financial Services) for an undisclosed sum.
M&G plc will take an initial 49.9% stake in the Plymouth-based company this year with an agreement to acquire the remainder over the following 2 years.
The deal, announced on the Stock Exchange this morning, is subject to regulatory approval.
Launched in 2014 by founding partner Martin Brown, Continuum has more than 60 IFAs and is Financial Planning focused. It has strong links with the UK’s accountancy profession and a growing in-house discretionary model portfolio service (My Continuum Wealth), currently managed by Marlborough Investments which will be mandated to M&G Wealth Investments post completion.
Continuum has grown strongly in recent years and saw assets under influence rise by 20% to £1.52bn in the first quarter of 2022, the firm reported earlier this year. Continuum has over 12,000 clients.
M&G Wealth is part of M&G plc and has four main parts, M&G Wealth Advice, M&G Wealth Platform, M&G Wealth Investments and a retail investment funds business, M&G Direct.
M&G Wealth has acquired a number of businesses since being launched in September 2020 with the mission to tackle the ‘advice gap’ by increasing its scale and services.
In late 2021, M&G Wealth launched a hybrid advice business called ‘MAP your future’ initially to clients with more modest wealth. At the start of 2022 M&G plc also completed the acquisition of Financial Planner Sandringham Partners to form an independent financial advice arm of M&G Wealth. This year it has also announced a partnership agreement with robo adviser Moneyfarm.
In February 2022 M&G plc acquired TCF Investments to provide model portfolio services (MPS).
M&G Wealth plans to increase its number of advisers to around 1,000 over the next 5 years. Following the acquisition of Continuum, M&G Wealth’s total number of advisers across its hybrid, restricted and independent businesses will be around 500.
David Montgomery, managing director, M&G Wealth, said: “This was an unmissable opportunity to partner with another fast-growing, top quality independent financial advice business. Continuum has highly experienced leadership and advice teams and has demonstrated a clearly defined strategy to deliver comprehensive solutions to their clients. We are excited to be able to support their strong ongoing growth plans.
“We want our advice services to be accessible to everyone which is core to the Continuum philosophy. This is vital for the financial services industry as we collectively seek to address the advice gap. Financial advice should not be just for the wealthy – it must be trusted, welcoming, unintimidating and should seek to deliver best outcomes and experiences for clients no matter their circumstances.
“Continuum has an outstanding brand reputation within the market and has a firm commitment to sustainable investment and working practices. Overall, it’s a great cultural fit with our existing advice businesses.”
Martin Brown, managing partner at Continuum, said: “Through market opportunities created by the lack of distribution, an increasing demand for high quality financial advice and changes driven by the pandemic, we extensively reviewed our strategic options to increase our scale and deliver to this need.
“This development enables us to continue to accelerate the growth of our business sustainably, increase our national footprint of high-quality individuals and enhance our offering to clients and advisers. Ultimately, this allows us to deliver a greater reach to best fulfil the growing advice need in the market.
“Importantly this ensures Continuum will progress its long-term ambitions of becoming a household brand and importantly a ‘home for life’ for clients, advisers, staff and future generations to come. We are absolutely delighted with our decision to partner with M&G plc, who share the same values and outlook. This is a stand-out option for our business at this stage of our development.”
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