Investec on the prowl
Investec is on the hunt for funds management and stock broking acquisitions following its purchase of investment bank Wentworth Associates for an undisclosed sum.
Investec Australia managing director Farrel Meltzer says the purchase is the first of many the group had planned for Australia.
"There are some other opportunities that we are looking at and we do expect in the reasonably near term some may come to fruition in the securities and funds management areas," he says.
The Wentworth acquisition follows the purchase of boutique financial planning firm ProVision last month.
Investec hopes Wentworth, which advises on mergers and acquisitions and the structure of transactions, will boost its core specialist investment banking activity.
Wentworth chairman David Gonski and directors Geoffrey Levy and Richard Longes will keep their positions once the deal is completed.
Meltzer says Investec intends to become a major force in Australia's financial services sector.
Investec set up operations in Australia three years ago and now has 90 staff in Sydney and Melbourne working in private banking, financial planning, structured finance, funds management and principal investing.
It is one of South Africa's top 20 companies and has operations in the UK, US, Asia and Middle East.
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