Perspective adds £350m with four acquisitions

twitter-iconfacebook-iconlinkedin-iconmail-iconprint-icon
Search supported by
Perspective adds £350m with four acquisitions
Ian Wilkinson, chief executive officer of Perspective

The national financial planner and wealth manager has bought Prolific Financial Services, Evolve Financial Management, Bowman Financial Planning and Quantum Portfolio Management in a move which will add 600 clients and £350m assets under management to the firm.

This brings the firm's total client numbers to 23,000 and gives it assets under management of £3.6bn.

The acquisitions mean Perspective has snapped up six firms in the first half of 2021, with more in the pipeline.

Ian Wilkinson, chief executive officer of Perspective, said: “Acquisitions are still a major strategic driver and as a minimum, we will complete at least the same number of deals in the second half of 2021 as we have done in the first half. 

“These vary in size from one-man bands to larger established firms that enable us to add to our network of local offices. We remain interested in deals at both ends of the size scale. 

“We continue to work closely at both a local and national level with accountants and lawyers who share our standards of client service, technical excellence and value for money and we are keen to grow these connections."

Prolific is based in Warrington in Cheshire, a new location for Perspective.

All six Prolific staff and directors have transferred across to Perspective, with founders Phil Newton and Simon Allan continuing to lead the office. 

Evolve is a sole-adviser IFA based in Sevenoaks. Its clients will be served out of Perspective’s existing office in Maidstone and its founder Mike Fisher will retire.

In addition, Bowman in Burford, Oxfordshire, will join Perspective’s existing nearby office in Woodstock. 

Two members of staff are expected to transfer across while its founder, Paul Catling, and other advisers will retire later this year.

Finally, Quantum in Bury, Lancashire, a specialist adviser to on substantial damages settlements, will see Perspective’s Thomas Harrison become its lead adviser.

Senior hires

Meanwhile, the firm has made two senior appointments with the addition of Fay Anderson and Stuart Groves.

Anderson joins from Intelliflo where she held various senior client-facing roles across 17 years. 

She now heads up implementation of the latest Intelliflo systems across Perspective’s 19 offices.

Groves joins as manager in the training and competence team where he provides support for on-boarding advice teams.

He has been in the industry for 21 years, working at first for Bradford and Bingley and more recently Prudential.

Wilkinson said: “Fay and Stuart are great additions to our team. They are both already working effectively with our advisers, paraplanners and admin staff in all our offices.

"It is particularly gratifying that with their long industry experience, the two of them chose to join Perspective at this time.”

Perspective was formed in 2008 and secured backing from private equity firm CBPE Capital at the end of 2019. 

amy.austin@ft.com

What do you think about the issues raised by this story? Email us on FTAletters@ft.com to let us know