Fairstone Group is on the hunt for a number of acquisitions in the first half of 2019 as it takes on five extra firms over the last few months and two individual advisers.
Hamlyn Financial Services, Findlay & Company Financial Services and Andrew Cohen Associates have joined the financial planning firm’s “downstream buyout” programme over the last few months and are due to add £365m ($471m, €417m) to assets under management, the firm said in a press release outlining its growth plans.
The three advice firms are in the process of integrating into Fairstone’s structure ahead of full acquisition. They follow in the footsteps of Darlington-based Belasis IFA, alongside Allensons in Wokingham, which recently added £50m funds under management as the acquisition process completed.
London-based Paul Miller and Surrey-based Andy Smith together bring an additional 222 clients and £46m AuM into the group via Fairstone’s individual buy out programme. Miller said the buyout provided him an exit strategy that de-risks the business while protecting the interests of clients.
Fairstone said it expected to make “a number of further acquisitions within the first half of this year”.
£8.1bn in FUA
Chief executive Lee Hartley said Fairstone aids it target businesses through regulatory, technical and operational support.
Hartley added: “Revenue and Ebitda performance has been substantially ahead of the prior year in each channel and importantly this is being delivered without any cross-subsidisation between our financial planning and investment management businesses.”
Fairstone revealed at its annual conference in Newcastle this week that its client numbers have increased 25% on the previous year to 51,000. Its current funds under advice are £8.1bn.
Hartley also revealed Fairstone has landed an additional line of funding from HSBC and Lloyds to aid its buyout programme with an initial £30m provided via the joint facility structure. “The initial commitment into the acquisition facility alone takes the total funding we have raised for business development purposes to £70m from inception,” he said.
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