Asia Rising: Hoxton Wealth buys Infinity Financial Solutions

We have been in conversation about a potential tie-up with Infinity Financial Solutions for about two years.

“I’ve been aware of their business for a long time. I’ve known that Trevor and Ben are really good operators,” explains Hoxton Wealth Chief Executive Chris Ball.

“And I was aware that Infinity was a good business as well. It wasn’t one I was concerned about.

“There are a lot of potential regulatory issues in Asia – it’s not the most regulated place – but I was comfortable with them.

“And Ollie Gorman, our Director of Revenue, knew of them because he had a business in Asia too. He made the introduction, and we started speaking to them.”

After a false start, Infinity dropped another firm that overpromised and underdelivered, then came back to us – and we decided to move forward with the deal.

It was around mid-last year when we really started pulling everything together.

We came to the conclusion that this was a business we were going to buy, and they really wanted to sell to us.

It was mutual – we liked each other. And at around the end of last year, we decided to get married, as it were.

This acquisition was a missing piece of the puzzle.

We are aiming to get all of our major capital investments in licences out of the way, and then really start doubling down on client acquisition and making sure we are providing clients with the best possible service.

There are not a huge number of businesses we would want to acquire in Asia, but Infinity was one we were very keen on.

“Sometimes you just have to strike while the iron’s hot and get the deal done,” says Chris.

For individual clients, Infinity offers the internationally mobile advice that maximises investments, pensions, savings and trusts, in addition to international banking and insurance.

Its corporate division helps companies with a range of services, such as establishing employee benefits, including group pension schemes and employee medical cover.

Infinity also assists its commercial clients with company formation, corporate insurance and risk management.

“We can now offer some medical insurance products in Asia – something we’ve never been able to offer before,” says Chris.

“It also brings with it a wealth of experience from Trevor and Ben, and the other advisers within the business.

“We’ll be looking to continue working with them. It’s not a case of them coming in and then leaving the business.”

Hoxton also brings a lot of benefits to Infinity’s business – such as global exposure, licences and all of that good stuff they wouldn’t previously have had access to.

Trevor says Infinity believes the acquisition will “further strengthen its presence in the Asia region”.

It will provide significant enhancements to the firm’s offering and give clients additional services from the experienced in-house team at Hoxton Wealth.

He adds: “Hoxton Wealth has invested significantly in technology enabling it to provide traditional financial planning powered by cutting edge technology and we are very excited to launch these services to Infinity clients.”

There will not be any major changes to start with, as everything is bedded in properly.

After that, a full rebranding exercise will ensue, to transition everything over to Hoxton Wealth.

This will ensure clients get the same look and feel they are used to – no matter where they are.

There will be an integration phase, which will take around the first six months, to make sure all systems are aligned.

After that, we will focus more on local marketing and work with the team on the ground to grow the business there.

Chris says: “I’m really looking forward to getting out there, seeing the team, and spending more time with them to help them expand the business.

“Trevor and Ben have built a fantastic business over the past 20 years – one that performs well, takes care of its clients and has a great track record with the regulator. We want to continue that and carry it forward.”

In Asia, there is one more territory we would like to expand into – Singapore. This will give us a presence in all three of the main hubs we need to be in across Asia.

We will then be operational in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Australia, India (which is on its way), the UAE, Europe, the UK, the US and South Africa.

That would bring us to 9 regulated entities globally – a truly global presence, covering most major expat or international markets.

Globally, Hoxton’s goal is to reach £3 billion (or $4 billion) in value by the end of 2025.

The Infinity acquisition takes us a long way towards that target – it covers a big part of this year’s acquisition objectives and helps us keep growing our overall proposition.

Back in 2018, no one had heard of us. Now we’re one of the front-runners in the international, global advice space. And we have got big ambitions for the long term.

We want to be number one in that space – so that when someone moves abroad and thinks of financial advice, the first name that comes to mind is Hoxton Wealth.