Justin Urquhart Stewart, a co-founder of Seven Investment Management, said he would not want to return to the ethic of a large corporation as rumours have started that its external shareholders are looking to sell.
Seven Investment Management (7IM), a £7bn wealth manager, is owned in part by insurance companies Zurich Insurance Group and Aegon. These two companies have hired Evercore and, according to the Financial Times, are looking to explore a potential sale of the business.
However, the insurance companies would need approval from the board of 7IM, which would need a tempting offer.
The investment manager was set up in 2001 by chief executive Tom Sheridan and Mr Urquhart Stewart, head of corporate development. The pair met while working as stockbrokers at Barclays and are not keen to return to a similar kind of ethic.
“We came from a large corporation and the last thing we want to do is go back into that kind of operation and ethic,” Mr Urquhart Stewart said.
