It has been revealed that a total of 10 financial advisory firms will bid for Storm Financial's (Storm) book of clients.
Stephen Prendeville, director of financial planning business broking specialists Kenyon Prendeville, told InvestorDaily yesterday that of the 62 firms that initially showed interest in the client book, 10 parties had been invited to bid for the 10,230 clients.
"Most of the buyers are interested in the local location, but we do have parties that are interested in acquiring the total business available," Prendeville said.
Of the 10 businesses there are eight locations, with each location having at least one small boutique interest, he said.
"I wasn't surprised [by the number of parties]. I was probably surprised by the significant level at the local stage - I thought there would be more national," Prendeville said.
The next stage of the bidding process will involve due diligence being undertaken.
"We're conducting that at the moment and we're expecting due diligence to be completed by the end of next week," he said. "We will then call for binding offers."
"All of the bidders have been qualified - they all have the resources, they have financial capacity, they have the experience to assist the clients. So we are happy with the way things have proceeded," Prendeville said.
Storm was placed into liquidation on 26 March.
In an email to Prendeville, Storm's receiver and KordaMentha partner Bill Buckby confirmed the sale of the client book would proceed despite Storm's recent predicament.
KordaMentha placed the book of clients in the hands of Kenyon Prendeville in late February.
