Newcastle-headquartered Fairstone Group has bought Sidmouth-based East Devon Associates for an undisclosed sum.
This is the group’s third acquisition of 2022 and its 50th acquisition of all time.
The deal adds a combined total of £350m ($475m, €418m) of client assets to the group.
Founded in 2004, East Devon Associates brings five staff and 500 clients into the group and increases the firm’s footprint in the south west. The firm partnered with Fairstone through its downstream buy out (DBO) proposition in 2019.
In 2022, Fairstone Group has already acquired Scotland-based East2west Financial Services and Huddersfield-based Brantwood Financial Planning for an undisclosed sum.
Growth
As this deal is announced, Fairstone has reached three milestones. It has made its 50th acquisition, notched up 10 years of M&A activity and hit £100m of revenues.
Lee Hartley, Fairstone chief executive, said: “We’ve now reached three very significant milestones which reflect our substantial growth in a very clear fashion. These are real indicators of maturity and are also important markers in our mission to establish ourselves as the leader in the whole-of-market wealth advisory space.
“Our first acquisition 10 years ago laid the foundations for our exceptional London business that has evolved from those origins. Thanks to the success of our unique downstream buy out acquisition programme, we now enjoy a truly national footprint, delivering first-class service to clients countrywide.
“Building on this position, our plan is to accelerate the group’s growth through continued focus on our proven proposition and targeting some select new geographies. We really do want to put clear blue water between ourselves and some of our peers.”
The group’s growth strategy was further reinforced as a result of a transaction with global private equity house TA Associates last year.
The investment formed the central aspect of a multiple financing boost for Fairstone, with private equity backers Synova also reinvesting into the group and funders Alcentra, the European arm of BNY Mellon, increasing the scale of the acquisition facilities available.
