Private equity firm completes £232m acquisition of AFH

Private equity investment firm Flexpoint Ford, which specialises in the financial services and healthcare industries, has completed its acquisition of UK financial planner AFH Financial Group for £231.6m.

Since its IPO in 2014, AFH has been providing wealth management and financial advice services to over 20,000 clients in the UK. It carried out an active M&A strategy for many years until it decided to focus on consolidation in 2019.

Flexpoint Ford will acquire the UK wealth firm via Cortina Bidco, a newly incorporated company indirectly controlled by the US-based private equity firm.

Daniel Edelman, managing director of Flexpoint Ford, said: “We could not be more excited to announce the completion of our acquisition of AFH, our very first platform investment in the UK.

“We look forward to working with AFH’s management team, who share our values, and remain confident in the continued success of AFH and its next phase of growth in the private domain.”

Steven Begleiter, managing director of Flexpoint Ford, added: “With a highly fragmented market, there was a clear opportunity to consolidate in order to better serve customers and create increased value. We are confident this partnership will strengthen and reaffirm the company’s current growth trajectory.”

Deal controversy

The deal has taken a while to get over the line. For it to go ahead, the wealth manager needed 75% of shareholders to approve the proposal.

Flexpoint Ford saw its first offer of £225m reportedly turned down by AFH shareholders, including Slater Investments.

This backlash caused AFH to postpone its general meeting on 1 March and also suspend trading in its shares. It is believed that the general meeting was scheduled to approve the offer.

See also: Mark Slater rejects £225m AFH takeover bid from US private equity giant

This forced Flexpoint to increase its bid to £231.6m and the Financial Conduct Authority approved the acquisition in May 2021.

Alan Hudson, chief executive of AFH Financial Group, said: “We are pleased to officially join the Flexpoint family and are excited for the opportunities yet to come as we benefit from their team’s expertise and client-centric mentality.

“There is a strong strategic and cultural fit for all stakeholders and we are confident that our partnership will enable us to service growing client needs and grow market share, reflecting our strong track record of increasing shareholder value.”