CompaniesOct 7 2016

Towry sells off assets to wealth firm

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Towry sells off assets to wealth firm

Towry has sold a book of business and some related assets to European Wealth for £1m.

As part of the deal £120m in assets under management will pass to European Wealth.

The clients who own the assets are mainly based in South Africa and the UK and will be managed out of European Wealth’s London head office.

John Morton, the chief executive of European Wealth, said his company would build on this client base to extend its overseas reach.

He said: “This acquisition further strengthens the group’s ability to offer integrated investment management and financial planning services across the UK and internationally.

“The addition of this book of business will be enhanced by our ability to offer direct international equity investment to our clients.”

In addition to the maximum £1m payment, European Wealth has agreed to pay Towry an additional £200,000 for the benefit of a loan owing to the latter by a consultant who is transferring to European Wealth.

The loan will be set off against any bonus due to the consultant for the 12 month period ending on 30 September 2017 and if the bonus is less than £200,000, the remaining amount of the loan will be waived.

In order to pay this amount, European Wealth intends to raise up to £300,000 through a direct share subscription by investors for up to 600,000 new ordinary shares at 50p each.

The first installment of £150,000 is payable in cash six months after completion and the second installment of £400,000 is payable after 12 months.

The final installment, up to a maximum of £450,000, is payable depending on the AUM attributing to the assets and will be paid no earlier than 18 months after completion.

Last month European Wealth agreed to buy Gibraltar-based asset manager Cimco Partners Management for £750,000, adding $22m (£17.6m) in assets under management.

In June the Aim-listed firm reported a loss before tax of £1m for 2015, compared with a £0.3m loss in 2014. It said this was because of the costs associated with the three acquisitions made last year, plus lower than expected trading volumes.

In April Tilney Bestinvest agreed to buy Towry from its majority shareholder Palamon Capital Partners for £600m.