Standard Life’s adviser business 1825 has bought Baigrie Davies, its third adviser acquisition within the last three weeks.
Baigrie Davies managing director Ian Howe will continue to run the business and will be responsible for 1825’s London office, which the deal establishes. He will also join the 1825 executive committee.
Founder Arthur Davies will also remain with the business, while co-founder Tom Baigrie will leave to concentrate on his other business, protection broker LifeSearch.
Baigrie Davies brings assets under advice of around £400m and 30 employees, including 11 financial planners and 5 paraplanners into 1825. This deal plus the recent acquisitions of Almary Green and Munro Partnership mean the business now has a total of 70 financial planners advising 9,400 clients on £3bn of their assets.
The Baigrie Davies deal is expected to complete in Q3 2016, subject to conditions including regulatory approvals.
Howe says: “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.
“Crucially, the 1825 client proposition maintains our total focus on financial planning and improving client outcomes with integrity and in a transparent manner.”
1825 chief executive Steve Murray says: “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. Being one of the early adopters of Standard Life’s wrap platform, we have a long-standing relationship with Baigrie Davies.”