Editor's view: Hargreaves Lansdown takeover and adviser decline

The editor's Friday Night Takeaway from 9 August

Jen Frost
clock • 2 min read

Hargreaves Lansdown’s private equity (PE) takeover must be the story of the week, disrupting an otherwise sleepy Friday.

After a will-they won't-they series of delays, the PLC's board this morning accepted a £5.4bn bid from a consortium of investors. Results of a recent business review lay bare the scale of work to be done at the group, which has faced slowing growth and customer and colleague engagement challenges. The business has already committed to £225m of investment spend to drive improvements. Tech changes have been afoot, while CEO Dan Olley stepped into the hotseat last August. "We have not always kept pace with the competitive environment, the way customers consume marketing, the increasin...

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