Banks and Rosengarten choose Coniston to accelerate growth

Cam Banks and Ed Rosengarten have selected Coniston Capital to help accelerate the growth of their national advice business, MWA Financial (MWA).

The independently owned private equity house has agreed to take a minority stake in MWA in exchange for an injection of growth capital that will significantly increase MWA’s acquisition power.

With five acquisitions completed in the last two years, MWA has a further three deals in the pipeline that it anticipates will take AUA for the business above the £1bn mark by the summer of 2024. Two of those are based in the North West of England, an area where the business is keen to increase its footprint and presence over the next twelve months.

MWA was launched by chief executive Campbell Banks in 2016 with the ambition of recreating here 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 the likes of ING, AXA Asia Pacific and AMP.

Ed Rosengarten became executive chairman of MWA in 2021 to help accelerate and execute its growth strategy. Before joining, Rosengarten was head of funds at Smith & Williamson and, prior to that, spent 20 years at M&G, the last ten of which as chief executive of the firm’s equity business.

Headquartered in London, MWA Financial currently has offices in Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Essex, Oxfordshire, London, Cornwall and the Scottish Borders.

Commenting on the news, Cam Banks said: “When choosing a long-term equity partner for the business it was vitally important to ensure we partnered with people that believed in us and our vision for the future. We are proven acquirers and integrators of high-quality regional IFAs looking for flexible deal structures and individually tailored succession plans. The team at Coniston are big supporters of this tailored approach which we will be able to deploy more rapidly with their funding and ongoing support.”

Ben Kirby, who led the transaction for Coniston and will join the board of MWA, said: “Coniston is delighted to be backing MWA, an exciting and ambitious company with a strong management team and proven acquisition track record in a growing sector. We believe that they are well positioned to build on their success to date to become a major player in the UK advice market.”

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For more information contact:

Andrew Appleyard, MRM - 07909 684 468 / andrew.appleyard@mrm-london.com