Davy Private Clients UK has acquired Pension & Financial Consultants Limited, one of Northern Ireland’s largest wealth management firms.
The deal, which is subject to Financial Conduct Authority approval, is expected to complete in early 2016, with PFC’s directors and staff moving to Davy’s new Northern Ireland headquarters in Belfast.
Independently owned by its directors and established 20 years ago, PFC has about 4,000 clients and £600m of assets under management.
The acquisition establishes Davy Private Clients as the biggest wealth manager in Northern Ireland, with assets under management in excess of £1.25bn and over 65 staff.
It is Davy’s third Northern Irish acquisition since 2013, with client assets increasing ten-fold since then, in line with a strategy to expand across the island and eventually into mainland UK.
In January 2014 the firm bought Square Seven Financial Planning and in May this year followed that deal by snapping up Graham Corry Cheevers.
The next stage is a recruitment drive to hire senior, highly qualified investment and financial planning professionals in Belfast and London.
Brian McKiernan, chief executive of the wider Davy Group, explained that they have identified a growing need for increasingly sophisticated financial advice and wealth management in Northern Ireland.
He said: “Davy has invested heavily to ensure that we are in a position to make a difference to our clients through the quality of our people and our advice.”
Stephen Felle, chief executive of Davy Private Clients, said: “We look forward to welcoming PFC’s clients to Davy, demonstrating to them our commitment to such high service standards, and working with them in the years and decades ahead on their financial affairs.”
peter.walker@ft.com
