Verso Wealth Management has acquired Sunderland-based CDC Wealth Management as part of its IFA consolidation plan.
CDC provides financial advice, planning and discretionary investment management services and advises on £150mn in assets.
Verso said the acquisition will add scale to its network and will create hubs in the north east as it builds its national footprint.
CDC was founded in 2006, and has a team of 10 advisers. Its four directors, Phil Cain, John Dixon, Andrew Mann and Sue Butterworth, will remain in the firm and will work with Verso’s executive team to expand the company’s presence in the north east.
Mann will also continue to lead CDC’s investment proposition alongside Verso’s discretionary investment management team.
Andrew Fay, chief executive of Verso, said it is an exciting time for CDC to join the group.
“With the support of our strategic partners, Cairngorm Capital Partners and their buy, build and transformation expertise, we are pursuing an ambitious IFA consolidation plan and accelerated growth strategy, to build a market leading, national wealth management group.
“CDC forms an important part of this.”
Mann added it is a “natural evolution” for the firm.
“We [will] gain additional resources and enhanced technology, enabling us to leapfrog to the next generation of digital infrastructure painlessly.
“Pairing our expertise with Verso’s automated advice capability and straight-through-processing engine, we will be able to serve our existing clients better and importantly, broaden the types of clients we are able to serve.”
Verso is a digital wealth management group providing financial advice and investment management.
The news comes a few weeks after Verso purchased Liverpool-based Pavis Financial Management.
It is actively pursuing an IFA consolidation plan and said it is in advanced negotiations with a pipeline of IFA firms.
Last year, it entered into a strategic partnership with Cairngorm Capital and Verso said this latest purchase was part of its ambition to build a national digital wealth management group.
sally.hickey@ft.com
