UK serial acquirer Fairstone Group has bought pension planning and investment management specialists Lofthouse Gate for an undisclosed fee.
It was part of a double deal which brings an additional 8,800 clients into the group together with 20 advisers and 14 support staff.
The acquisitions also secure gross fee income of £2.3m ($2.9m, €2.6m) for Fairstone, together with funds under management of more than £120m.
Wakefield-based Lofthouse Gate was acquired through the firm’s Fairstone’s downstream buy out (DBO) model, which reverses the traditional buy-and-build approach in integrating IFA firms into the group.
Lofthouse Gate has total revenue around £1m, funds under management of £120m, 800 clients, five advisers and five support staff
Fairstone also bought London-based Mortgage Find, which specialises in arranging both residential and buy-to-let mortgages.
Still acquiring
The firm has now made six outright acquisitions this year.
This comes after fellow serial acquirer AFH said it was to stop buying firms.
“Fairstone’s business model delivers strong organic growth that leads to a transfer of client ownership and also places a focus on firms with an appetite to grow and develop, which is an ambition shared by Lofthouse Gate,” Lee Hartley, chief executive of Fairstone, said.
Kirk James, company principal at Lofthouse Gate, added: “Joining Fairstone enables us to enhance the service proposition we offer to all of our existing clients and to give a more robust and reliable service for the future.”
