Former Lions rugby player Gavin Hastings has partnered with a Surrey-based advice firm to launch a financial planning business in Edinburgh.
Hastings Investment Management is acting as an appointed representative of Guildford based advice firm Price Ferguson, which has £220m of client funds under management.
The firm will offer investment management, tax planning and retirement planning advice and Hastings will be heavily involved in the business but will not have a role in managing client money.
Michael Price, who co-founded Price Ferguson in 1997, is a partner and managing director of the firm, with Hastings acting as chairman.
Price said the association between Hastings and himself began when his firm started managing some of Hastings' personal wealth many years ago.
He said: "Through a schoolfriend, who knew Gavin Hastings, we started to look after some of his wealth, and we got to know him that way. He came and did an event where he spoke to our clients, and so launching this business seems like a natural step."
The company was actually launched in 2019, with Price as the sole director, but was dormant until this year due to the impact of the pandemic, with the business effectively put on ice until now.
In addition to Hastings and Price, the company has one other financial adviser, as well as support staff.
Looking to the future, the pair plan to employ more advisers, and also, in the medium or long term, acquire other businesses.
Price said: "I am 61, but I am still very ambitious. We employ one adviser now, but I do not intent to have a business that keeps just employing one adviser."
Sports career
Gavin Hastings’ rugby career came right at the end of the amateur era in the sport. A Cambridge University graduate, he won 61 international caps for Scotland, and captained the Lions on a tour of New Zealand in 1993.
After retiring from the sport, he set up a sports marketing and events management business, which he subsequently sold.
He also acted as an adviser or brand ambassador to financial services firms including Aberdeen and Standard Life, and HSBC.
By profession, Hastings is a building surveyor.
Hastings Investment Management is based on George Street, which is right in the centre of Edinburgh.
david.thorpe@ft.com
