{"id":489004,"date":"2026-05-17T09:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T09:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/489004\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T09:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T09:45:12","slug":"eddie-hobbs-sells-finance-advice-firm-to-rival-for-up-to-e5m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/489004\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddie Hobbs sells finance advice firm to rival for up to \u20ac5m"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eddie Hobbs, the celebrity financial adviser and controversial political campaigner, has agreed to sell his wealth management business, Hobbs Financial Practice, to Fordel, a boutique financial planning and investment advice firm, for a price of up \u20ac5 million.<\/p>\n

Hobbs wrote to clients last Thursday morning to inform them of the sale to the Dublin-based buyer, stating that the firm had \u201cattracted interest from a range of suitors\u201d, but had chosen Fordel because \u201cmany of its shareholders are also clients, reflecting a strong alignment of interests and values\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFordel was founded by specialists in global wealth management and is owned and led by very experienced practitioners,\u201d Hobbs wrote in an emailed statement. \u201cThis is a distinctly Irish firm founded on Irish capital and in it for the long haul.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The sale of the Naas, Co Kildare firm, which Hobbs owns with his wife, Mary, closes one chapter in a varied career for the financial expert, who rose to prominence as an outspoken consumer advocate in the 1990s. Hobbs became a television star during the Celtic tiger, most famously as the host of the RTE programmes Show Me the Money and Rip Off Republic.<\/p>\n

His mix of financial nous and populist plainspeaking brought him both credibility and clients, including the record-setting EuroMillions winner Dolores McNamara, who retained Hobbs to advise her on her \u20ac115 million fortune.<\/p>\n

His popularity and reputation suffered a blow, however, when Brendan Investments, a property investment vehicle he fronted, lost most of its client money in a series of failed ventures ranging from German commercial real estate to derelict housing in Detroit.<\/p>\n

In 2015, Hobbs turned to politics, founding the conservative party Renua with Lucinda Creighton<\/a>. He left the party the following year after it failed to win any seats in Dail Eireann in the 2016 general election.<\/p>\n

\"EddieHobbs with his wife, Mary, who co-owns Hobbs Financial PracticeShowbiz Ireland\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

More recently, Hobbs has been espousing more controversial views on vaccines, immigration<\/a> and the European Union, hosting numerous far-right figures, such as Malachy Steenson and Derek Blighe, on his YouTube interview series Counterpoint.<\/p>\n

Throughout his varied media and political career, it is understood that the Cork financier has maintained a very strong and loyal client list.<\/p>\n

Hobbs said in the letter to clients that he would \u201cremain closely involved\u201d with client relationships through the transition but that Fordel would provide financial advice after integration.<\/p>\n

Hobbs cited the burden of increased regulation and administration as key reasons for selling, saying it was \u201csqueezing the time available for meaningful conversation and considered decision-making\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said Fordel\u2019s modern systems would allow for a more personalised focus on client needs.<\/p>\n

The deal will add about \u20ac250 million in private client assets under management to Fordel\u2019s business, more than doubling its size just a year and a half after it launched.<\/p>\n

Market sources said firms of that size would fetch up to \u20ac5 million, based on recent transactions for similar businesses. Hobbs Financial made a profit of \u20ac147,545 in the 12 months to the end of October 2024, bringing retained profits up to \u20ac532,922. Revenue of \u20ac838,856 came mainly from investment and insurance commissions, with a smaller portion coming from advice. Hobbs and his wife took \u20ac386,000 in remuneration as the sole directors.<\/p>\n

The sale of the 30-year-old business is just the latest transaction in the highly active wealth management and financial broker sector.<\/p>\n

Fordel is understood to have sized up a bid for Evelyn Partners Ireland late last year after its splitfrom S&W, and Goodbody has been in talks since last year to buy BCP Asset Management. Last month NFP bought Metis Ireland for \u20ac15 million.<\/p>\n

Rathbones is in the process of getting its Mifid authorisation in Ireland to service its EU clientel, while RBC Brewin Dolphin, Gresham House and Quilter Cheviot have all beefed up their operations in recent years.<\/p>\n

Fordel was founded by Stephen Felle, an ex-Davy director, early last year. It grew out of an earlier incarnation, Argeau, an advice-only business for ultra-high-net worth individuals and family offices run by Felle with former Davy colleague Adam Cleland.<\/p>\n

The firm, which is backed financially by a handful of clients, including the property developer Sean Mulryan, specialises in investment services for clients with at least \u20ac1 million of investable assets and targets high-earners in key sectors such as aircraft leasing and tech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eddie Hobbs, the celebrity financial adviser and controversial political campaigner, has agreed to sell his wealth management business,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[79,18,19,17,234,235],"class_list":{"0":"post-489004","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116589280328408834","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}