IFA firm prices will fall within 18 months, warns consultant

Harrison Spence Partnership said prices paid by consolidator firms would drop considerably in the coming months.  Director Brian Spence explained six months ago there were five times as many consolidation offers as advisers wanting to sell up, but since the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) supply and demand had become more balanced. He said the reason for the increase in supply - which puts downward pressure on price - is that sole traders have become increasingly unable to deal with bureaucracy and regulation in part caused by the RDR. Similarly, the major consolidators are unlike...