Evelyn Partners has bought the client book and assets of North East firm Scholes & Brown, marking the seventh IFA to be onboarded to the firm’s succession programme which launched last year.
Scholes & Brown’s directors, Philip Brown and Bradley Thompson, will join Evelyn’s Newcastle office at St Ann’s Quay along with their four employees.
Evelyn, previously known as Tilney Smith & Williamson, established a new investment management team in Newcastle last year headed up by Matthew Burgess.
In November, it also brought on Explore Wealth Management - the first firm Evelyn did a deal with as part of its succession scheme. This deal added five new joiners to the team.
Other deals have included FP Solutions in Essex, Capital Risk Management and MP2 Financial in Edinburgh, Equilibrium in Glasgow and 2hWealthcare in Buckinghamshire.
Evelyn’s strategic partnerships head Richard Dawes told FTAdviser last month that the way the scheme works is the adviser joins one of Evelyn’s offices to oversee the re-homing of their clients. The firm also tries to mirror what the adviser was providing, so does not look to move assets to a different platform.
Scholes & Brown, founded in 2003, is currently based at Rotterdam House, Quayside, in Newcastle.
Dawes said the deal demonstrates Evelyn’s commitment to continue growing in the North East.
“As with the agreement in late 2021 with the Northumberland-based Explore Wealth Management team, this means that Scholes & Brown’s clients will continue to receive a high-quality, personalised service while also benefiting from the investments we have made in our proposition and technology,” he added.
Like Equilibrium Financial Consultancy, a firm whose books Evelyn bought in July, Scholes & Brown also cited increased regulation as a key driver for the deal.
“The volume of regulation that has weighed upon small, independent firms during this time has forced many to team up with bigger, better resourced partners,” said Scholes & Brown’s director, Bradley Thompson.
“We have been approached by many large wealth managers over the years, but we were impressed by the way Evelyn Partners has approached the integration of our business.”
ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com
