Thursday, September 02, 1999
H&R Block buying Olde discount broker
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tax preparer H&R Block, which has been buying mortgage and accounting businesses, has agreed to buy the nation's fourth-largest discount broker.
Block Wednesday said it is acquiring Detroit-based Olde Financial Corp., the parent company of Olde Discount Corp., for $850 million in cash in its largest single acquisition yet.
The move takes the Kansas City-based H&R Block closer to its goal of becoming a one-stop financial-services center for mainstream families and provides it an opportunity to generate more revenue from its 16 million customers. That involves not only preparing taxes, but selling annuities and mutual funds, and doing financial planning.
“Many investment decisions spring from tax preparation,” said Paul Mackey, a senior analyst with Buckingham Research Group in New York.
“The very wealthy go to trust departments, major in vestment firms, the Merrill Lynches of the world. But there's a huge mass market worried about retirement, educating kids. There's a huge opportunity to cross-sell to them.”
Olde Discount, which has offices in downtown Cincinnati and Blue Ash, offers brokerage and other financial services at 181 branch offices in 35 states.
Olde manages $37 billion in assets for 600,000 clients. The average age of those clients is 50, and they earn roughly $67,000 a year.
Demographically, that's a nearly perfect match with H&R Block's top 4 million customers. They average $65,000 annually and average age is 44.
Some don't believe buzz on Beanies
'Must-have' toys of yesteryear
P&G expands in S. Korea to supply products in Asia
TRISTATE BUSINESS SUMMARY
INDUSTRY NOTES: REAL ESTATE
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
Armco locks out employees
Economic index climbs again
H&R Block buying Olde discount broker
TRISTATE MARKET SPOTLIGHT
