IOOF Holdings Ltd. says the acquisition of DKN Financial Group Ltd. will bolster the number of its financial advisers by a third to about 1000 and will add $18 billion to its funds under management.

“It has been our long-standing strategy to increase the number of our advisers,” says Melinda Hofman, an IOOF spokesman.

IOOF currently has about 650 financial advisers. It manages $106.2 billion. The DKN takeover will close on October 17.

IOOF is paying 80 cents a share for DKN, or about $94.1 million for the 82 per cent of DKN it does not already own. The acquisition will be financed by a mix of cash and debt.