Ahmedabad: India’s first listed IFA practice Wealth First Portfolio Managers Limited (Wealth First) today announced the acquisition of controlling interest in a Mumbai-based firm, Wealth First Advisors Pvt. Ltd. (WFAPL), a wealth management and distribution firm, at an equity valuation of ₹102.15 crore.
The acquisition significantly strengthens Wealth First’s presence in India’s largest wealth management market and takes the combined business to nearly ₹9,000 crore in assets under management. More importantly, it marks a significant milestone in the firm’s evolution from a western India focused practice into a national financial services institution. Anchored in wealth and asset management, Wealth First is steadily building an integrated financial services platform designed to serve clients across their evolving investment and wealth creation needs.
Under the agreement, Wealth First will first acquire a 51% stake in WFAPL through a combination of internal accruals and a share swap, upon execution of the requisite transaction documents. The remaining 49% will be acquired at a future date based on WFAPL’s valuation as on March 31, 2029, and is proposed to be settled entirely through a share swap.
Ashish Shah, Founder & Managing Director, Wealth First Portfolio Managers Limited, said, “Every milestone in our journey has started with people. We didn’t go looking for a Mumbai office, we found a team whose values and commitment to advice mirrored our own. Earlier this year we entered asset management; today we are strengthening our advisory franchise. Together, these mark Wealth First’s steady evolution into a broader financial services institution.This takes our combined platform to close to ₹9,000 crore, and over the next five years we intend to grow it to around ₹20,000 crore, more than double our scale, and rank among India’s leading independent wealth and asset management firms. But our ambition isn’t simply to be larger, it is to build an institution that endures.”
The acquisition follows Wealth First’s strategic entry into asset management earlier this year through its sponsorship of Lakshya Asset Management. While that initiative strengthened the firm’s manufacturing capabilities, the acquisition of WFAPL expands its advisory and distribution franchise.
Together, these complementary initiatives broaden Wealth First’s capabilities across the financial services value chain and reinforce its long term strategy of building an integrated financial services institution.
India’s wealth management industry is undergoing a structural transformation. A recent PwC report projects that India’s asset and wealth management industry will nearly double to US$1.7 trillion by 2030, driven by increasing household financialisation, rising participation in capital markets, rapid growth in affluent and high net-worth investors, and one of the world’s largest intergenerational wealth transfers. At the same time,successful regional advisory firms are increasingly seeking the scale, technology and product breadth that larger institutions can provide, creating a favourable environment for consolidation.
For more than three decades, Wealth First has grown by combining organic expansion with carefully chosen entrepreneurial partnerships. Every new geography, capability and business has been built around people who share the firm’s belief in advice led client relationships, long-term thinking and entrepreneurial ownership. That philosophy shaped its expansion into Pune, followed by Surat, and now Mumbai through its strategic acquisition with WFAPL.
The acquisition also significantly strengthens Wealth First’s position in Maharashtra, which accounts for nearly 40% of India’s mutual fund industry. Together, Wealth First and WFAPL will oversee nearly ₹9,000 crore in assets, creating one of India’s leading independent advice led wealth and asset management businesses and providing a strong foundation for the firm’s next phase of national growth.
Building on this foundation, the combined organisation has set itself a clear five-year objective to more than double assets under management to approximately ₹20,000 crore while establishing itself among India’s leading independent wealth and asset management firms.
In light of this significant achievement, Wealth First extends its sincere gratitude to Aurtus Consulting LLP, who acted as lead advisors and provided end-to-end assistance throughout the acquisition process and Gandhi Law Associates, who acted as the legal advisors.
