Aviva has completed its purchase of Succession Wealth for £385m, announced in March this year.
The deal is designed to “significantly enhance” Aviva’s presence in the UK wealth market.
Succession Wealth has approximately 200 planners advising on £9.5bn of assets delivering advice to around 19,000 clients throughout the UK.
According to Aviva the deal means it will have the capability to offer high-quality advice to its approximately four million workplace pension customers.
It has £96bn of assets under management (AUM) as well as approximately two million individual pensions and savings customers with £139bn of AUM.
The transaction is being funded by cash from Aviva’s “strong capital position” and is expected to deliver a double digit return on invested capital in the medium term.
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At the end of July, Aviva appointed Michele Golunska as managing director of wealth and advice.
She will have responsibility for Aviva’s intermediary platform business, the workplace business, heritage customer solutions.
She will also be in charge of Aviva’s advice operations, comprising Succession Wealth, Aviva Financial Advisers and Sesame Bankhall Group.
Aviva said the appointment signals its “commitment to the strategically important wealth market”.
It also recognises the “growing importance of advice”.
The appointment is subject to FCA approval and is expected to complete in the second half of 2022.
Experts have suggested Aviva may look to buy more businesses following its purchase of Succession.
Kingmakers director Rob Stevenson believes the purchase is all cash and it makes “total sense to spend that” amount.
During a HomeGames webinar hosted by the Lang Cat, he suggested that if Aviva had not bought Succession it would have been something else.
He also said “we may well start to see other providers [buying consolidators]”.
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