The financial advice operation of Armstrong Watson has acquired the financial services business of Burnetts Solicitors for an undisclosed sum.
The partners of Burnetts said due to “increasing demands in the regulation of financial services advice, its financial services client base would be better served by partnering with a firm that specialises in providing financial advice”.
As part of the deal, Burnetts IFA Tony Irving will join Armstrong Watson.
Armstrong Watson Financial Planning is headed up by managing director Iain Lightfoot and head of advice David Squire. Across the firm’s 16 offices, they lead a team of 18 independent financial planning consultants.
Concentrate on legal work
Nick Gutteridge, managing partner at Burnetts, said: “The legal side of our business has been growing consistently over the last few years and this combined with the increasingly complicated regulation of financial services led us to seek a partner to acquire the financial services arm of Burnetts.
“Armstrong Watson is a very natural choice – its services, like ours, are well respected and we trust its skilled team will look after our financial services clients well. This will free us up to concentrate on our legal work and we have plans for further significant growth of Burnetts in both Cumbria and Newcastle in the coming years.”
Paul Dickson, chief executive and managing partner at accountancy firm Armstrong Watson, said: “With both firms being long-established firms in Carlisle, Newcastle, Penrith and West Cumbria, we have many existing mutual client relationships and both firms share common values, making the transition of Burnetts financial services over to Armstrong Watson one that makes good sense for clients to ensure that they continue to receive the highest quality of financial advice.”
