Kingswood Holdings has bought a Glasgow-based financial advice firm for £5.1mn.
The group has bought Strategic Asset Managers (SAM), which has three advisers and managers 400 clients with assets under administration of £200mn.
SAM operates across central Scotland and Perthshire, and in the year to March 31 it generated revenue of £1.2mn and pre-tax profit of £517,000.
The business was founded in 2001.
The acquisition cost of £5.1mn is payable over a two-year period, with £3.1mn paid on completion.
Chief executive officer of Kingswood, David Lawrence, said: “When we are considering acquisitions, we do so with the upmost care, to ensure cultural and client focused alignment."
He added that the opportunity to build Kingswood’s relationships across Scotland is an "exciting" one.
"Kingswood's build and buy strategy continues, with a further four purchase transactions under exclusive due diligence, that we expect to close in the coming months, plus additional transactions that are currently under negotiation."
Chief executive of SAM, Derek Stewart, said delivering advice in today's complex markets requires “significant resources” which Kingswood has.
“It is no coincidence that [Kingswood has] the same values as SAM; Integrity, Teamwork and Impact.
“We operate in a very similar way and believe this will benefit our clients and present greater development opportunities for our staff.”
The acquisition marks the third for Kingswood this month, after buying Buckingham-based Employee Benefit Solutions and Lincoln-based JCH Investment Management.
The company announced a new debt facility last month, which has a maturity of seven years and provides the firm with £50mn of funding, with the ability to increase the commitment to £150mn should it be needed.
Kingswood said this will allow it to accelerate its strategic growth plans and provide additional capital to fund future acquisitions as well as fund existing deferred consideration.
In September, Kingswood said it would enter the Irish advice market with its purchase of Dublin-based financial planning firm Moloney Investments, which added €700mn (£635mn) in assets under advice to its books.
Around the same time, the firm had signed heads of terms or was in exclusive discussions with a further eight UK and Ireland businesses.
So far in 2022, Kingswood has already bought six firms: Hampshire-based Smith Pearman and Associates, South-Yorkshire based DJ Cooke Life and Pensions, Rotherham-based Allots Financial Services, Essex-based Joseph R Lamb Financial Advisers, Eastleigh-based Aim Independent financial advisers and Lincolnshire-based Vincent & Co.
sally.hickey@ft.com
