Aviva has acquired Succession Wealth for £385m, in a deal which enhances the group's presence in the UK wealth market.
Succession is an independent financial advice firm with approximately 200 planners, advising on the £9.5bn of assets of around 19,000 clients throughout the UK.
It has a track-record of consolidating advice firms, with around 60 acquisitions to date. Chief executive James Stevenson will continue to run the business, with the ability to accelerate growth through participating in further consolidation as part of Aviva.
Succession will continue to operate as a separately regulated firm and will use its existing brand. It has Scottish offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Stornoway.
Through the deal, Aviva will have the capability to offer advice to its approximately four million workplace pension customers, as well as approximately two million individual pensions and savings customers, focusing on those who do not currently have an adviser.
The addition of an advice offering will allow Aviva to better support its customers as they go through critical life decisions, helping to retain more of the circa £6bn of pension and heritage assets that leave to be invested with competitors each year.
The transaction, which is being funded by cash, is expected to deliver a double digit return on invested capital in the medium term, including all integration and restructuring costs.
Doug Brown, chief executive of Aviva UK and Ireland Life, said: "We are excited to partner with the management team at Succession Wealth, they have built a great business over the years, and I am confident that Aviva’s scale, resources, capabilities and shared vision will enable them to further expand its leading client and planner proposition in the UK’s attractive wealth market.
"This acquisition will broaden our advice offering and will help our existing customers currently without an adviser to better secure their financial future.”
Stevenson added: "The demand for financial advice across the entire wealth spectrum has never been greater, and the opportunity to combine Succession Wealth’s holistic financial planning expertise, with the capabilities and customer reach of Aviva is hugely exciting."
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