UK private equity firm Sovereign Capital Partners has backed Hove-headquartered IFA and wealth firm Skerritts in a deal worth £55m ($77m, €64m).
The deal value includes “follow-on funding to help the company’s strategic acquisitions”.
The firm has previously made “eight small acquisitions”.
Founded in 1990, Skerritts provides financial planning and investment management services, and currently looks after around 4,000 private clients as well as corporates with a team of 40 staff.
Skerritts manages approximately £1bn of clients’ funds, with its discretionary service delivered through the company’s in-house investment management solutions.
In addition, the IFA firm will be delivering a white label platform solution through technology company Hubwise.
‘Highly fragmented’
Richard Skerritt, founder and chief executive of Skerritts, said: “Sovereign’s investment and expertise in financial services, gives us a fantastic opportunity to accelerate our growth ambitions and enhance our capabilities.
“I am very proud of the business which I established thirty years ago from a home office. As a team, we are dedicated to providing the highest level of care to all our clients.
“We look forward to further enhancing our capabilities and continuing to deliver the same level of service and care we are recognised for by our customers.”
Alex Hay, partner at Sovereign, added: “Richard and his team have consistently grown the company and made a number of acquisitions to further consolidate the firm’s position in the south east. With the development of a leading in-house investment management solution alongside, we consider the business to be strongly positioned for future growth.
“The market is highly fragmented, and we look forward to partnering Richard and the expanded team to develop Skerritts’ offering and geographic footprint through strategic acquisition.”
Appointments
Also, the IFA firm, which has an office in London, has hired Andrew Fisher as non-executive chair.
Fisher was previously chief executive of Coutts & Co and of Towry Group.
Charles Sparrow joins the company as group chief executive as well.
Sparrow worked for nearly 20 years at Seven Investment Management, which he co-founded.
