Investors who use Hargreaves Lansdown might well wonder what the takeover bid received by the company means for both their portfolio and their experience of the platform.
If the bid is approved by shareholders, Hargreaves will be acquired by a group of private equity investors that includes CVC Capital Partners. The platform needs a lot of investment to become competitive again; the group believes they can provide it, and that Hargreaves Lansdown can be more effectively reformed “as a private company without all the requirements of a public company”. While you may reasonably disagree with this assessment, initially not a lot will change for you as a client.
Your money will be as safeguarded as it was before. Platforms are tightly regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), regardless of whether their owners are private or public. Your money is held separately from Hargreaves Lansdown’s money, which means that even if the provider were to go bust, its creditors would have no right to your assets. We explain how client protections in the platform space work more in detail in How much money should you have with one platform?