IIFL Wealth Management Ltd, one of the leading wealth management companies in India today announced it would acquire the entire share capital and the company of Chennai-based Wealth Advisors India Private Limited (Wealth Advisors). IIFL Wealth will conclude the transaction for a consideration of INR 235 Crore (plus cash and cash equivalents). The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.
This move is expected to further fortify ten-year old IIFL Wealth’s presence in the south as Wealth Advisors has a formidable presence in Chennai, Bangalore, Coimbatore and is also present in Mumbai and Pune. The transaction represents one of the first few control transactions in the wealth management space in India.
Wealth Advisors is the brainchild of Founder-Director, Mr. V. Mahadevan and Mr. Pramod Kumar, who put together the founding team and roped in the current management team and built the sales force from scratch. Wealth Advisors is one of the largest wealth management firms in South India with Asset Under Advice of approximately INR 11,000 Crore. The genesis of both the firms is similar as both are driven by an entrepreneurial culture and have sizeable employee ownership. The acquisition will give IIFL Wealth access to new client segments, a steady annuity-based revenue, and a very talented management and sales team under the guidance of Mr. Pramod Kumar, besides a cutting-edge technology platform and a highly process oriented and efficient operations team.
Karan Bhagat, Founder, MD & CEO, IIFL Wealth Management Ltd, said, “While most of our growth has been organic, we have always been open to align with the right partners in the business. Besides a formidable team, Wealth Advisors has a couple of commonalities with us which include a strong alignment of culture with a highly client-centric approach. This deal brings us some top-quality talent by way of sales and non-sales teams and our combined effort will further strengthen our reach and offerings for the high net worth clients and ultra-high net worth clients.”
Pramod Kumar of Wealth Advisors said, “This move gives us the opportunity to scale up and establish deeper client relationships with the added advantages of the IIFL Wealth platform. Their plethora of offerings in the wealth management space including asset management, trust and estate advisory, tax planning, corporate advisory, credit and leverage offerings is unmatched in the industry. Moreover, IIFL Wealth has a history of entrepreneurial culture similar to ours and we look forward to continuing our sharp focus on the wealth management business, which is the core business of both the firms. The acquisition will include all employees, including the research team, the sales team under Mr. Abhay Amrite, the operations and support team under Mr. Srikumar, and all the other staff of Wealth Advisors."
Equirus Capital was the sole advisor to Wealth Advisors on the transaction.
