St James's PlaceJan 14 2020

SJP scraps plans to buy Irish wealth manager

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SJP scraps plans to buy Irish wealth manager

St James’s Place has abandoned plans to purchase an Irish investment firm — a move which would have brought €1bn (£857m) of assets under management and 1,500 advice clients to the business.

The deal to buy Harvest Financial Services, which was announced in February last year, was part of SJP’s global expansion but the wealth manager said today (January 14) it had decided not to proceed with the acquisition.

An SJP spokesperson said: “Following careful consideration, SJP has decided not to proceed with the acquisition of Harvest Financial Services Limited.

“This reflects a strategic decision regarding this opportunity by St. James’s Place and does not reflect in any way upon Harvest Financial Services.

“St. James’s Place looks forward to maintaining the good relationships it has established with Harvest.”

At the time the deal was announced SJP said the acquisition was to enter a “closely aligned marketplace” in the Republic of Ireland and said the two firms had been in conversation for “some time” prior to last February’s announcement.

Harvest’s chief executive Gerry Devitt had hoped the deal would bring the firm’s vision to a “whole new level”.

Scrapping the acquisition plans will also put a halt to the DFM growth SJP had been targeting.

Speaking to FTAdviser last year Graham Coxwell, chairman of Rowan Dartington, the DFM business owned by St James's Place, said SJP would target growth in the DFM market in the years to come and that buying Harvest Financial Services was part of those plans.

imogen.tew@ft.com

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