NatWest Group has agreed to acquire Evelyn Partners in a £2.7bn deal, which will result in the group overseeing more than £127bn of assets under management and total customer assets and liabilities of £188bn.
The transaction, agreed with shareholders Permira, Warburg Pincus and Evelyn Partners, is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to be completed in summer 2026.
Evelyn Partners is a UK wealth manager with £69bn of assets under management and administration. Its services include financial planning, discretionary investment management and a direct-to-consumer investment platform, Bestinvest. The firm operates from 21 offices across the UK.
NatWest’s existing private banking and wealth management business, which includes Coutts, manages £59bn of assets under management.
Permira invested in Bestinvest in 2014 and then built Evelyn Partners through a series of acquisitions, including Tilney, Towry and Smith & Williamson. Meanwhile, Warburg Pincus became a minority investor following the acquisition of Smith & Williamson in 2020.
Evelyn Partners chief executive officer Paul Geddes says: “We are delighted to be joining NatWest Group which will be a great new home for Evelyn Partners. We each have a long-standing history of providing high quality wealth management services. Together, our shared vision is to be the UK’s leading Private Banking and Wealth Management business, providing unparalleled financial advice and investment management to our clients as well as a broader range of capabilities. We are hugely excited by the opportunity which this transaction presents, providing us with greater scale and resources, for the benefit of our clients and colleagues.
“NatWest has been deeply committed to the UK wealth management sector for many years with a sizeable presence through Coutts. Today’s announcement is a sign of its growth ambitions in a world where increasing financial complexity and fast-moving markets are driving the need for both expert advice and investment management. Like Evelyn Partners, NatWest has a similar client-centric culture, and we are excited about the opportunities ahead as part of the wider NatWest Private Banking and Wealth Management team.
“As we look ahead to a new stage in our journey, we would also like to thank Permira and Warburg Pincus for their strong partnership over many years.“
NatWest chief executive Paul Thwaite says: “Bringing together these two leading businesses creates a unique opportunity to provide financial planning, savings and investment services to more families and people across the UK. We look forward to welcoming our new clients and working with our colleagues at Evelyn Partners to transform the service our 20 million customers across the Group can expect from us.
“At a time when the benefits of saving and investing are increasingly part of the national conversation, we can help customers to make more of their money through a broader range of services, as well as helping to drive growth and investment across the economy.
“This transaction creates the UK’s leading Private Banking and Wealth Management business, delivering the scale and capabilities needed to succeed in a market with significant growth potential. It accelerates delivery of NatWest Group’s strategy and positions us to realise our longer-term ambitions.
“This represents a strategically and financially compelling use of capital, enhancing income diversification and strengthening returns in a high growth segment, to deliver sustainable long term value creation.”
Permira managing director Chris Pell says: “When we invested in 2014, we believed UK wealth management would increasingly reward scale, advice-led models and institutional investment standards. Over more than a decade, Evelyn Partners has been built deliberately around that conviction. The investment exemplifies our approach to long-term value creation: patient ownership, close partnership with management and continuous investment in people, technology and platform capabilities. Today’s agreement with NatWest is a strong endorsement of the quality of the platform, the client proposition, Paul’s leadership and all the highly talented employees at Evelyn Partners.”
Warburg Pincus managing director and partner Peter Deming says: “We are excited for Evelyn’s clients, employees and leadership as the business joins an exceptionally strong long-term home in the NatWest Group. This successful ownership transition reflects the outstanding effort of all stakeholders in establishing Evelyn as the preeminent UK wealth manager through the integration of multiple firms into a cohesive, well-performing institution.”
