National advice network Beaufort Financial has established its first presence in North Wales and Cheshire after partnering up with Alchemy Advisory Services.
Alchemy will re-brand as Beaufort Financial (St Asaph & Chester), bringing with it some 500 private and corporate clients and about £65m of assets under management.
The firm was set up by Gaynor and Stephen Lyth in 2004 and includes a third adviser, Geoff Goodwin, who joined in 2017 from HSBC.
Simon Goldthorpe, Beaufort Group's executive chairman, said: "We are delighted that Gaynor, Stephen and Geoff have joined us, we look forward to helping them further develop their business over the coming years.
"Quality advice should not be hampered by ever increasing regulation and legislation, joining Beaufort will enable them to grow their assets under management and the number of clients they deal with. Their firm is an ideal match for us and will fit perfectly into our partnership."
He added the firm has plans to add a further four to five firms to the group this year.
The Beaufort Group was set up in 2012 and previously had 12 appointed representatives and four directly authorised firms, advising more than 12,000 clients.
Mr Lyth said: "Our team has over 80 years’ experience in the advisory sector and offers a comprehensive range of financial planning services. We feel now is the time to partner with a group that has a similar mindset to our own, we spoke to a number of consolidators, but did not believe that joining any of them would be in the best interests of our clients."
Mr Lyth said he was impressed by the quality of the senior management structure and the performance of its DFM, Beaufort Investment.
"This combination offers our clients the very best service, with keenly priced platform fees, attributes fundamental to a firm of our size," he said.
He added: "Cash flow modelling, robust compliance and skilled paraplanning will now be looked after centrally, leaving us to concentrate on what we do best; delivering a high standard of personal service to our clients."
Beaufort Investment appointed Derrick Dunne, the founder and former chief executive of Sanlam Four, as chief executive of its DFM arm in May.
damian.fantato@ft.com
