Sanlam prepares to pounce on advisers with business buy-in plan

What does Sanlam want to do with its investments in Buckles, Merchant Investors, Nucleus and Principal Investment Management? We spoke to Lukas van der Walt, chief executive of Sanlam UK, to find out more.

Southern African insurer Sanlam has been quietly building its presence in the UK over the last 10 years and now it is ready to pounce.

Van der Walt (pictured) has ambitious plans to win over advisers and buy into their businesses. The softly spoken and quick thinking South African wants to buy quality adviser firms who he thinks share the same culture as Sanlam.

‘You will see Sanlam lifting its head up in terms of distribution this year,’ said van der Walt.

However, the 50-year-old added: ‘We are not desperate to get into the market. We will be very selective about the culture of the business.’ The former accountant and Kleinwort Benson corporate financier said: ‘It is not about size, it is about quality. Sanlam is not about return on ego.’

A growing pride

Van der Walt’s right hand man will be Buckles’ boss Nigel Speirs (pictured above), who will be putting the plans into action. As Sanlam’s new head of distribution Speirs will become the bridge between Sanlam and advisers.

‘They [advisers] are not realising the value in the supply chain. We want to partner with them to help grow their value,’ said Spiers. ‘Sanlam is capital rich and will apply it where it can achieve returns.’

Sanlam wants to buy into adviser firms but it has no plan to compete with Close Asset Management’s ambition to gather £6 billion of adviser assets. ‘It is very easy to burn through money very quickly and the record of people buying distribution is very chequered,’ said van der Walt. ‘We are certainly looking at IFA acquisitions but it is different to some competitors, we will be very selective.’