IOOF’s Kelaher confirms busy acquisitions strategy
IOOF is again firmly on the acquisitions trail with its managing director, Christopher Kelaher confirming to Money Management that it currently has a record number of non-binding indicative offers in market.
Speaking, following the release of the company's half-year results on Wednesday, Kelaher made no secret of the firm's acquisitive ambitions including its interest in the wealth management assets of ANZ.
Asked his views on the performance of the wealth assets of the major banks, he said he believed there were significant advantages in being a significant non-bank player with a clear focus and little debt.
In doing so, he referenced the company's Wednesday announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in which he spoke of IOOF's objective to strengthen its focus on its core wealth management business and position it for further growth.
Kelaher also referenced the number of advisers looking to move under the IOOF umbrella from other institutional licensees.
He said it would also be wrong to discount the amount of work that IOOF had done in the platforms space, particularly with its move to transition down to only two operating platforms involving around $7 billion in FUM and the successor fund transfer of around 10,000 clients.
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