Reading-based national advisory firm and IFA consolidator Bellpenny has taken its total number of acquisitions to 15 following the purchase of two firms based respective in London and Birmingham, in the process boosting assets under management by £187m.
Actuarial & Investment Services Ltd, a north west London-based IFA with assets evenly split between pensions and investment business, has a total of £75m funds under management.
The Hammond Consultancy (THC) is an IFA based in Birmingham with around two thirds of the funds under management deriving from investment business, and the remainder being pensions related. IT has a total of £112m in funds under management.
Bellpenny was established in October 2012 with backing from private equity and global investment manager Oaktree. The firm was placed 51st in Financial Adviser’s top 100 firms of 2013, registering gross sales of £140m, according to data from Matrix Solutions.
The latest two acquisitions follow hot on the heels of the purchase of Glasgow-based MGW Independent Financial Advisers in December, which added £141m in funds under management.
That deal took the total FUM to £1.25bn and the total number of advisers in the UK to 36.
Kevin Ronaldson, chief executive of Bellpenny, said: “It is very pleasing to be getting 2014 off to a flying start, with the announcement of two more substantial transactions involving well-respected IFA businesses.
“The RDR was very much the catalyst for the formation of Bellpenny and, 12 months on from its introduction, the reverberations continue to be seen across the UK advice sector.
“It is fair to say that every one of our 15 deals to date can be attributed, to a greater or lesser degree, to the RDR, the after-effects of which will be felt by our industry for many years to come.”
David Moss, founding director of AIS, said: “Having decided to spend more time and effort away from the financial services industry my main concern was to find a company who would provide the high level of service that my clients have grown to expect.
“Bellpenny provides the face-to-face, personalised service that I was looking for.”
