Hargreaves Lansdown has given more time for a private equity consortium to firm up its £5.4bn offer for the company as its latest trading update revealed it had reached a record AUA of £155.3bn.

HL reported net new business of £1.6bn for the three months to the end of June as it added 24,000 net new clients.

It said there were 1,882,000 active clients on the platform at the end of June, with net flows driven by clients focused on utilising their ISA and SIPP allowances.

Share dealing volumes averaged 838,000 per month in the quarter, up from 685,000 in the previous quarter while overseas deal volumes represented 20.6% of total deals, up from 16.8%.

Dan Olley, chief executive, said: "While we still have more to do to deliver against our strategic priorities, we are making progress and I'm pleased to see ongoing good momentum this quarter.”

He did not mention the bid extension which has given a private equity consortium until 5pm on 5 August to formalise the revised £11.40 per share bid it had made on 18 June.

The original deadline was 5pm on Thursday 19 July but when announcing the extra weeks, HL said: “Discussions between Hargreaves Lansdown and the consortium, as well as the negotiation of definitive transaction documentation, remain ongoing.”

It had confirmed that it had decided to engage with the consortium and provide due diligence access on 18 June.

It had earlier rejected a £5bn takeover bid from the private equity consortium in May.

The consortium comprises CVC Advisers Limited, Nordic Capital XI Delta, SCSP (through its general partner Nordic Capital XI Delta GP SARL), and Platinum Ivy B 2018 RSC Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

HL said: “There can be no certainty that a firm offer will be made for Hargreaves Lansdown nor as to the terms on which any such firm offer might be made.”

Hargreaves has seen a number of changes to its senior management team in recent times and has also faced criticism for poor share price performance. 

Alison Platt replaced Deanna Oppenheimer as chair of the board in February after Ms Oppenheimer unexpectedly quit in November after activist investors threatened to vote against her re-appointment at the December AGM.

Some investors were unhappy with the firm’s share price performance, including one of HL's founders, Peter Hargreaves. Deanna Oppenheimer served as chair for six years during which time the share price fell from a peak of 2,419p in May 2019 to 706p by the time she quit.