Perspective Financial Group has bought Chelmsford-based Primera Wealth Management, adding £205mn assets under management.
As part of the deal, announced today (November 23), Perspective will have add 340 households as clients.
Neil Donnelly and Mark Copsey, directors of Primera Wealth Management, said: “Over recent years our attention has naturally been drawn towards the future of our business and the continuation of our advice to clients well into the future.
“After an exhaustive search, one business in particular, Perspective, stood out. We are therefore delighted to join them, as their ethos, ethics and client focused approach fully align with our own values.”
The firm said this acquisition takes it to 20 this year and 76 in total since it was founded 16 years ago.
Perspective now has 500 staff, 38 local offices and 140 financial planners, a third of whom are qualified to chartered level or above.
It manages £8bn of assets on behalf of clients and is three times the size it was five years ago.
Ian Wilkinson, chief executive officer, said: “We feel very positive about the scale and pace of progress we have made in 2023 towards our goal of creating the best client-centric financial planning firm for both our clients and our people.
“Successfully completing and integrating an acquisition every two to three weeks is testament to the professionalism of our whole team.
“Our sustained growth is enabling us to become a better, not just bigger, firm which is very important to us. We remain highly selective in the firms we acquire – they must be genuinely client-centric, not just claim to be. In our experience, it’s easy to say those words, but another thing entirely to apply them in practice.”
Wilkinson said the average length of its client relationships is 25 years and “often spans four generations in a family”.
“Our reputation for doing what we say and delivering on our promises in transactions has meant a number of firms have re-engaged with us after terminating discussions with other acquirers, when the latter have been unable to complete their proposed acquisition for various reasons,” he said.
Perspective also has an academy which launched in 2014 and has around 40 people moving through it at any one time, both new hires and those joining via acquisitions.
“As a financial planner myself with 30 years’ experience who still advises clients, I retain a strong belief in the benefits of developing and nurturing talent in-house,” he said.
“That way, people have the right values to be successful with us.
“Given that two of the main motivations for firms in this sector wishing to sell up are the ability for the owners to retire in the near future, or to grow their business further with the resources of a larger group behind them, a strong pipeline of young, motivated talent coming up through our academy is vital to ensure clients can rely on us over the long term. “
Wilkinson said there are productive results from working with universities including Northumbria, Lancaster, Leeds and Manchester to position financial planning as an professional career path for graduates of all degree disciplines.
“The combination of a structured training programme leading to Chartered level qualifications, and the option of developing a client or technical career depending on the individual’s skill set, is highly attractive,” he added.
“I am quite certain that Perspective’s best years still lie ahead and warmly welcome our latest acquisition and their team to the group.”
In October, Perspective bought Worthing-based Accord Financial Management Ltd and Rotherham-based RPG Financial Ltd in Rotherham, adding a total of £390mn assets under management.
Prior to that, it bought Buckinghamshire-based Prosperity (GB), Northumberland-based AYP Financial Planning and an undisclosed firm in north east England, adding £250mn in assets under management.
sonia.rach@ft.com
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