IFAs a difficult area for private equity

This is because not all are profitable, and the sector carries the legacy of pensions mis-selling and other risk issues. Some business improvements have been seen since A-Day earlier this year, but overall “IFAs remain a tricky area for private equity.” There is also a question over the driver of future growth: much of the focus so far has been limited to cost-cutting with regard to profitability issues. A lot of companies are not profitable a lot of the time, Marsden says. This helps explain why generalist IFAs are not seen as attractive by those running private equity money. That said...