This year saw Succession rise from tenth place last year to eighth in the survey, on the back of a £670m increase in gross sales. However, according to chief executive Simon Chamberlain, the major development this year was investment in his company by private equity house Inflexion. “They are underpinning our investment programme,” he said.
Succession has a distinctive consolidation model, sometimes referred to as ‘back-to-front consolidation’, whereby firms change their processes and systems to align with the company, leaving them ready to be acquired once the transition programme has concluded successfully.
Mr Chamberlain said: “We have 68 firms that we have taken a stake in and 12 firms joined us as members this year.” These included Hart Financial, LRH Wealth Management, Cornerstone Lifestyle and Hopkinson Associates.
He added that the Succession method of acquisition was designed to obviate the problems frequently encountered with consolidation. He said “The problem is making it stick. We often see money given to the wrong people at the wrong time, and advisers may find themselves disenfranchised by the deal.”
Mr Chamberlain said: “The advance on last year has come from growth. We are currently advancing around 5 per cent a month on funds. The changes to pensions have helped a lot. If someone has to take out an annuity the money is removed from the platform. That does not have to happen now.”
