The wholly-owned financial planning business, which was launched by Standard Life in February last year to meet a growing need for advice from its customers, has revealed that under the buyout terms, Baigrie Davies will form 1825’s London regional office.
The new headquarters will include 30 employees – 11 financial planners and five paraplanners – with assets under advice of around £400m ($570m, €500m).
Chief executive of 1825, Steve Murray, described the new office as “important” to furthering the firm’s ambition of building an advisory business of “significant scale” in the UK.
Meanwhile, Ian Howe, Baigrie Davies’ managing director, will continue to run the business and will be responsible for the London office.
"Establishing a further presence in London is important to our ambition of building a financial planning business of significant scale."
He said: “Becoming part of 1825 is the natural next phase in the evolution of our business. We’ve taken Baigrie Davies to a point where we feel more resource is needed to continue to grow the business and provide the best possible proposition and service to our clients. Being able to tap into the scale and resources of 1825 is such a compelling opportunity for our team and our clients.”
Completion
Subject to regulatory approval, the takeover of Baigre Davies will be finalised by September 2016. The purchase of Almary is expected to close in the first half of 2016, while the Munro acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of July 2016.
In a statement released on Tuesday, 1825 said that once all the acquisitions are complete Almary Green, Munro Partnership and Standard Life will have 70 financial planners advising 9,400 clients on £3bn worth of their assets.
Murray said: “Baigrie Davies is a high quality firm with a team of talented, professional and dedicated individuals. Being one of the early adopters of Standard Life’s Wrap platform, we have a long-standing relationship with Baigrie Davies. As a CISI Accredited Planning business, they are extremely well respected within the profession.”
“Establishing a further presence in London is important to our ambition of building a financial planning business of significant scale so we’re delighted to welcome the Baigrie Davies team to 1825”.
