Brachers advises MWA Financial on its funding partnership with ThinCats and linked transactions

Brachers’ Corporate team has advised MWA Financial (MWA) on its successful funds raising with ThinCats, together with a series of linked transactions including the acquisitions of Sterling Financial Consultants, Winser Financial Services and Martin Dore Limited.

London-headquartered MWA has entered into a long-term partnership with leading alternative finance provider ThinCats to support the group’s plans to build a national firm of independent financial advisers. The partnership with ThinCats marks the start of ‘phase two’ for the owner-managed MWA, that will see it complete on a number of live acquisitions designed to take adviser numbers to more than 30 and AUA above £1bn over the next 12 to 18 months.

MWA was launched by Chief Executive Cam Banks in 2016 with the ambition of recreating in the UK the holistic advice model prevalent in his native Australia. Banks has more than 25 years’ experience developing financial advice networks in Australia for major organisations including ING, AXA Asia Pacific and AMP. Ed Rosengarten joined the business in 2021 as Executive Chairman to help execute and accelerate its growth strategy. Before joining MWA, Rosengarten was head of funds at Smith & Williamson and, prior to that, spent 20 years at M&G, latterly as Chief Executive of the firm’s equity business.

The Brachers team was led by Matt Simmonds (Corporate Partner) and also included Alistair Wickham (Corporate Associate) and Cameron Gaston-Penny (Corporate Solicitor). The team has previously worked with MWA on its successful acquisitions of Hampshire-based Prosperity Independent Financial Advisors and Essex-based CHC Wealth Management.

Cam Banks, MWA’s Chief Executive says:

“Our partnership with Thincats is exciting and enables us to really push forward with our strategy to grow MWA Financial into an outstanding wealth management practice here in the UK.

“I am very thankful to Matt Simmonds and his team at Brachers. They are, in the truest sense of the word, our legal partners and have invested in our journey with us. The advice and support that they have given us has been invaluable over the past few months. I look forward to continuing our growth story with them.”

Ed Rosengarten, MWA’s Executive Chairman says:

“With the phase one foundations successfully in place, our focus for phase two is on accelerating adviser and asset growth through carefully selected acquisitions and targeted organic growth.

“The partnership with ThinCats provides us with the complementary capital required to execute our strategy, positioning MWA as an attractive and capable owner-managed alternative to the abundant acquirers in the market.

“I would like to personally thank Matt Simmonds and the team at Brachers for their outstanding support to us throughout past few months. It has been a huge achievement for us all to get the ThinCats funding partnership and our three acquisitions completed. I am truly grateful for the support night and day that the team at Brachers have given us.”

Matt Simmonds, Corporate Partner says:

“I am absolutely delighted for Cam, Ed and the team at MWA Financial. We have worked with them for a number of years and are seeing the business flourish. Cam’s and Ed’s philosophy and desire to create something better is hugely inspiring. We are so pleased to have the opportunity to work with them as they grow.

“Congratulations to the teams at ThinCats on the successful completion of its funding partnership with MWA. Thank you also to all of the other advisers who worked on the various moving parts of the transaction, particularly our Alistair Wickham and Cameron Gaston-Penny and the team at Irwin Mitchell LLP who worked with ThinCats throughout. It was a huge achievement to get these individual aspects completed all together and achieve a successful outcome for all stakeholders.”

Other advisors on the transaction included Irwin Mitchell LLP (Legal Advisors to Thincats), Mazars LLP and Clarke Wilmott LLP.

Martin White, Director, Integritas Financial said: “We are delighted to have been involved in supporting this progressive household name in the property sale and letting market, to achieve its funding objectives. Obtaining Funding for complex share buyout proposals is never an easy task. Having made some unsuccessful direct approaches to lenders, Mark and the Miles & Barr buyout team placed their trust in Integritas to make this happen. The key to making this deal work was to find a lender who understood the dynamics of the sector and would be responsive and flexible in shaping a deal to enable it to happen. This is an exciting time for Mark and the team and we wish them every success for the future.”

Integritas are a leading, Kent based, Finance broker, specialising in acquisition and MBO funding for SME businesses. For more information please contact either Paul or Martin.