The shares of financial planning technology companyIWLand online broking groupSanfordhave both been placed in a trading halt today, sparking speculation that IWL is planning to secure a majority stake in Sanford.
It is understood IWL, which increased its stake in Sanford to around 20 per cent last year, will make an announcement regarding its future with Sanford on Wednesday this week.
IWL, which owns managed fund research group Investorweb, increased its stake in Sanford from 9.5 per cent to 19.9 per cent last November in a deal that resulted in Sanford’s Virtual Broker product being rebadged as VisiBroker and tied to IWL’s VisiPlan financial planning software.
The deal also resulted in research from InvestorWeb being made available to the 1200 financial planners who are existing clients of Sanford.
However the deal was not without its controversy, with a group of Sanford shareholders mounting an unsuccessful Supreme Court action to stop IWL chief executive Otto Buttula joining the Sanford board.
The deal also put paid to IWL’s plans to merge with sharemarket information system provider Iress Market Technology, with both groups deciding to abandon the merger after IWL boosted its stake in Sanford.
