Standard Life has bought a Bristol-based advice firm to create a south west regional office for its advice arm 1825.
It has bought Fraser Heath Financial Management for an undisclosed sum but the deal adds assets under advice of £352m to the business.
1825’s south west regional office will have 23 employees including seven planners and five paraplanners.
Julie Scott, chief executive of 1825, said: “Establishing a regional office in the south west extends our financial planning footprint even further across the UK.
“It’s just over two years since we launched 1825 in response to the growing demand for financial advice and there are many more exciting opportunities out there as we continue to create a financial planning business of significant scale.
“We remain focused on growing 1825 and helping our clients plan to live the life they choose.”
Fraser Heath’s leadership team of Jim Collier, Alan Loomes and Mark Fletcher will continue the day-to-day running of the business.
Mr Collier will become managing director for the south west regional office and will join the 1825 executive committee.
On completion of this acquisition, 1825 will have over 70 financial planners advising around 8,500 clients on around £3.7bn of their assets.
Mr Collier, managing director at Fraser Heath, said: “In coming to this decision, we’ve undertaken a full due diligence process on 1825 and through this we’ve found that we share a number of core beliefs, including a focus on long-lasting client relationships, a similar culture and comparable investment solutions.
“We’re also looking forward to benefiting from being part of a larger group, from sharing and accessing resource, to further development of our people and fantastic career opportunities.”
The transaction is expected to complete in Q1 2018 subject to certain conditions being satisfied, including receipt of regulatory approvals.
damian.fantato@ft.com
