When Sarah Soar achieved her long-held ambition to become a chief executive in October 2019, she was stepping into the eye of a series of storms.
Within six months her new employer, Hawksmoor, was plunged into the same chaos as the rest of the economy, with the pandemic afoot, markets falling and the confusion of remote working to be embraced.
But it was also at this time that Hawksmoor was approached by a potential acquirer, Hurst Point, a private-equity-backed consolidator that made a bid approach.
Soar says of this time: “I was trying to get to know the staff, and run the business, and do the transaction all at the same time. Hurst Point actually agreed everything in March 2020, but obviously stepped back from it before completing the transaction in August of that year.”
While that was the first real merger and acquisition transaction with which she was directly involved, 2020 was the culmination of a career that began as a wealth manager but which Soar says long had the aim “of becoming a chief executive”.
Soar’s career began at Brewin Dolphin as an investment manager, she then was headhunted to work at a firm called Seymour Pierce Butterfield.
When a change of ownership loomed at that firm, and Soar did not like the prospects to come, she says she went back to Brewin Dolphin with a proposition.
“I said to them, even though I had left, would they like me to come back and bring a whole office with me, and so with that I became the head of the Marlborough office of Brewin Dolphin.”
From there she rose through the ranks, and became the first female executive director of Brewin Dolphin in its 250 year history, and was also business development director.
She then became head of the investment management business at JM Finn.
It was during this time she gained experience beyond managing money, as she ran regions and divisions for the company. It was at this point Soar says becoming a chief executive became the aim.
She says the learning experience at JM Finn was strong because “it is a much smaller company, so there are many more areas to be involved with”.
Soar was then, she says, headhunted to become chief executive of Hawksmoor Group.
She describes that period in the first months of the pandemic, and the sale of the company, as the greatest achievement at the firm to date.
Hawksmoor manages around £5bn across three business units, with a fund management arm, a bespoke wealth management business and a model portfolio service.
She readily agrees that in the industry of today: “Scale matters. And £5bn is not nearly big enough. We want to get to £10bn to £15bn, growing all three of the business units. We do want acquisitions, but also to hire teams from other firms and organic growth.
"One thing I like about how we do things is we don’t have a big shiny tower block office in London, we are in the regions. I myself am peripatetic in terms of where I work, visiting the different offices, and I live in Wilshire.”
But while acquisitions are on the agenda, she says there is an agreement that none will happen in 2024 as she first seeks to integrate previous deals.
While the aim is to grow all three business units, she does not anticipate launching more funds within that part of the business, instead trying to grow the three funds they have.
Hawksmoor is owned by Hurst Point, and backed by private equity firm Carlyle. She says there was originally a target to grow AUM by a certain year, but that target has been put on hold since the pandemic.
Having begun her career in financial services in the 1980s, she says things have “changed somewhat”, but notes that only 12 per cent of fund managers are women, and only 16 per cent of investment managers.
Future priorities
Of her own experience she says: “It is probably easier for a female investment manager than fund manager, because an investment manager has relationships with individual clients that can be preserved.
"But I think the biggest thing that helped me was that I lived in Wiltshire. I took three months leave with each of my children. But living in the town, [even when back at work I was] five minutes from the school and ten minutes from home, that makes it easier to manage. A woman working in the City of London might find that more difficult.
"I was talking to a female colleague recently, she has young children. I couldn’t believe the cost of childcare. It’s a real issue.”
She is also keen to see “greater diversity of background” among wealth managers.
Soar’s view is the industry has featured “a lot of people with double barrelled surnames and the right school background, often their job is not much more than to stay in touch with their school friends from privileged backgrounds. But the reality is, there are many children from less advantaged backgrounds that are as clever, or more clever.
"The thing is, apart from being more clever, people from less privileged backgrounds have the advantage that they can probably relate well to people who are self-made. Some of the clients who worked hard and made their own money, they might find the double-barrelled name and knowing 'which spoon to eat the soup with' culture a little intimidating.”
Her view is that schools should have compulsory financial education, including explanations of what a stockbroker is, and other financial terms.
She says many people of less privileged backgrounds that become wealth or fund managers “tend to have started in back office roles, which applies much less to those of more privileged backgrounds and so acts as a deterrent.”
In addition to her role at Hawksmoor, Soar is on the board of trade body Pimfa and is a former board member at the Institute of Directors, indicating that in addition to her role at Hawksmoor, Soar is likely to be a consequential figure in our industry for many years to come.
David Thorpe is investment editor of FT Adviser
