M&G has confirmed it has signed an agreement to acquire Continuum Financial Services in the next two years.
The London-based firm will take an initial 49.9% stake in the business this year with an agreement in place in order to acquire the remaining shares in the company over the next two years.
The purchase price is undisclosed.
Launched in 2014, the Plymouth-headquartered firm operates throughout the UK with 60 independent financial advisors. Continuum has in excess of £1.5 billion in assets under influence and over 12,000 clients.
The organisation will retain its own brand and sit alongside M&G’s existing advice, platform and investment businesses.
On the acquisition, David Montgomery, managing director of M&G Wealth, said: “This deal adds another high-class independent financial advice business into M&G Wealth to complement our existing network of advisers.
“There is a growing need in the UK for consumers to be able to access financial advice services in a way that best suits their circumstances and requirements.
“This ‘advice gap’ is something we are keen to help address. Continuum has a terrific reputation in the industry and grows our capability to provide a wider range of advice services and investment solutions to more clients.”
The new acquisition adds to M&G’s financial services portfolio, with the firm having added Sandringham Partners in January 2022.
The firm also stated that 60.8% of its assets under management (AUM) must improve its investment performance, while 4.4% was deemed ‘unsatisfactory’. These figures are up from 2021, when M&G deemed 59.2% of AUM must improve its investment performance, and 0% was considered unsatisfactory.
The total AUM for M&G was €439.5 billion as of 31 December 2021.
In explaining the investment performance, the report stated: “We would observe that many of M&G’s funds (particularly the equity funds) follow a ‘value’ investment approach, whereby managers look for mispriced opportunities among lowly valued stocks.”
© 2022 funds europe
