The news comes as Harwood announced four further acquisitions of adviser firms are at an advanced stage.
The acquisition of Harwood was announced in December with Carlyle setting up a new company called Bidco to acquire all the shares of Harwood in an all-cash deal valuing the firm at about £91m.
Today Harwood published a scheme document detailing the timeline of the deal which is recommended by Harwood’s board.
In order for the deal to go ahead 75% of shareholder need to vote in favour. A meeting to review voting on the deal will be held on 12 February and if shareholders vote in favour the deal is likely to go through by the spring.
The Harwood directors say they consider the recommended cash offer “fair and reasonable.” Harwood directors, who own just under 67% of the shares, have indicted they will vote in favour of the deal.
In a trading update, Harwood said it expects to report total revenue of £33.6m for the year ended 31 October 2019, a “modest increase” on revenue of £32.7m for the previous year. Harwood has continued to buy several adviser firms recently and completed the acquisition of CIC Financial Solutions Limited in September 2019 and Andrew Routley Pensions Limited in December 2019.
Harwood says it continues to have a “healthy pipeline of acquisition opportunities at various stages in the process, with heads of terms signed in relation to a further four potential acquisitions.”
Carlyle is a global private equity group with £170bn in assets under management in 365 investment vehicles. Harwood Wealth Management Group was created in 2016 through the merger of Compass Wealth Management Group and Wellian Investment Solutions.
Carlyle will buy Harwood through a new company called Bidco run by Hurst Point Topco Limited, a newly formed company indirectly controlled by funds managed by Carlyle.