M and A
Global Conglomerate Forays Into Wealth Management

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Bidvest Group,
the global conglomerate, has expanded into wealth management with
the acquisition of South Africa’s Cannon Asset Managers, its
third deal in six months.
The firm will take over the Johannesburg-based money manager from
Citadel Wealth Management, Bidvest said in a statement, without
disclosing the terms of the deal.
“We have made acquisitions and are building a full-services
business,” Japie van Niekerk, managing director of Bidvest
Financial Services and Bidvest Bank, said in an interview with
Bloomberg. “We have different acorns that we planted
that are growing nicely. We wanted an asset management
business.”
Cannon was founded in 1998 and has five funds listed on its
website.
The deal is the latest in a string of recent acquisitions by
Bidvest Group, and marks its first foray into money management.
It follow’s the firm’s purchase of FinGlobal, a provider of
financial services to South Africans living outside the country,
and First Data Holding’s South African merchant services unit.
Bidvest Group’s parent also operates car rentals, office products
and freight, among other services.
Bidvest Financial Services is funding the purchase with its own
cash reserves.