- Kingswood Holdings Limited (“Kingswood”) announces it has agreed to acquire Metnor Holdings Limited (“Metnor”) and its subsidiaries, IBOSS Asset Management Limited (“IBOSS”) and Novus Financial Services Limited (“Novus”) (Metnor, IBOSS and Novus together, “the IBOSS Group”).
- Bringing together the IBOSS Group and Kingswood Investment Management creates a leading UK discretionary fund manager (DFM) business with an enviable long-term investment track record, an award-winning service proposition, open market distribution, and a broad range of complementary investment solutions for our clients.
- The transaction boosts Kingswood’s UK assets under management (“AuM”) to £3 billion with a growth aspiration to more than double this figure over the next three years. The transaction also supports Kingswood’s broader ambition to be a top 10 UK investment management firm.
- In addition to recently announced deals, the acquisition of the IBOSS Group increases Kingswood’s client facing advisory team to 80 people, UK funds under advice/management to £6.3 billion, and the number of active clients to over 15,900.
- Kingswood Group assets under administration (“AuA”) will total over £7.9 billion from a combination of both global retail and institutional clients matching our ambition to grow globally as an international integrated full service wealth and investment manager
- This transaction also provides an attractive exit opportunity for the IBOSS Group’s firms to be acquired by Kingswood without changing their client investment choices.
Kingswood Holdings Limited, the international, fully integrated wealth and investment management group, has agreed to acquire, subject to regulatory approval, Metnor Holdings Limited (“Metnor”). Metnor is based in Harrogate and is the holding company for IBOSS Asset Management Limited (“IBOSS”) and Novus Financial Services Limited (“Novus”) (Metnor, IBOSS and Novus together, “the IBOSS Group”).
IBOSS is a leading provider of Managed Portfolio Services (“MPS”) and other investment solutions on both an advisory and discretionary basis to UK independent financial advisers (“IFAs”) under the leadership of Investment and Managing Director, Chris Metcalfe. IBOSS has developed a leading service proposition, as recognised by a five star rating in the FT Adviser service awards and an enviable, long term track record of high performance with low volatility. Novus is a reputable regional IFA meeting the needs of clients based largely in the North of England.
On an underlying basis for the 12 month period to 31 October 2021, the IBOSS Group generated revenue of £3.3 million and EBITDA of £1.3 million. The IBOSS Group currently employs 29 people and has over 6,000 clients with over £1.4 billion of AUA/M. At 31 December 2020, the IBOSS Group had net assets of £3.1 million.
David Lawrence, UK CEO at Kingswood, commented:
“My ambition when taking the reins of Kingswood’s UK business was, and remains, to create a leading financial advisory and investment management business and this transaction is a big step towards that goal.
“In the IBOSS Group, Chris Metcalfe has built a fantastic brand with a superb Investment track record. From our first meeting, we knew that blending the IBOSS Group with Kingswood would create something special in the sector, harnessing the IBOSS Group’s investment record, product range and open market IFA distribution with Kingswood’s existing discretionary investment expertise and rapidly growing financial planning businesses.
“The IBOSS brand and expertise will be retained, with Chris Metcalfe and his investment team remaining at the helm of the investment strategy, implementation and servicing. With Kingswood’s resources we aim to accelerate growth and create greater reach into the IFA sector. The transaction also allows Kingswood to leverage its successful track record in buying and integrating financial planning businesses by providing the capital to purchase financial planning businesses using IBOSS that wish to exit but don’t wish to risk the investment solution provided to their clients.
“Kingswood’s tailored Personal Portfolio Service (PPS) will strongly complement the Portfolio Management Services (PMS) and Managed Portfolio Services (MPS) products provided by IBOSS, with Kingswood also benefiting from IBOSS’ OEIC products, as together we develop a full range of investment solutions for clients.
“We remain committed to our growth strategy within the UK and internationally. This is our fourth acquisition of 2021, and we have a strong pipeline of high-quality UK opportunities under negotiation, four of which are in the exclusive due diligence stage.”
