Acquisitive Financial Planning-led wealth manager AFH has bought the client book of Midlands IFA firm Groom Associatates in a deal worth up to £615,000.

AFH, itself Midlands-based, says it has bought the ‘client portfolios’ of Groom Associates LLP which is based in Studley, Warwickshire.

As a result of the deal Bill Groom and Annabelle Duncan will retire from Groom following the acquisition and their clients will be taken over by existing AFH advisers.

The acquisition is AFH’s eighth of 2019 although the firm indicated recently that the rapid pace of its takeover activity in recent years may be slower in future given the economic uncertainty and a need to consolidate the new business.

Under the terms of the latest acquisition, the initial consideration for the acquisition is £321,000 in cash, funded from AFH’s existing cash resources.

AFH says that further deferred consideration will be payable in cash over the next 26 months, subject to performance criteria of the assets acquired, with the maximum purchase price being £615,000.

Chartered Financial Planner Alan Hudson, chief executive and founder of AFH, said: “Our eighth acquisition of the financial year is the client portfolio of an established IFA business in Studley. I wish Bill and Annabelle well in their retirement.

“The business provides a complimentary fit to AFH's core business and I am confident that Groom's existing clients will benefit from the advantages of the AFH proposition". 

AFH was founded in 1990 by Alan Hudson and provides wealth management and financial advisory services to over 20,000 clients in the UK. It has more than 450 financial  advisers and 400 support staff.