South Tyneside wealth managers Fairstone has acquired a South East business to boost the group's strategic growth plans.
Principals Mark and David Rawlings said they decided to join Fairstone as the firm was looking to partner with a proven national business to "provide the financial strength and stability needed to grow and prosper". The Hereford firm joined Fairstone's Downstream Buy Out (DBO) acquisition model in March 2020, as the country went into lockdown. Since then, it has seen a 13% increase in fee income.
The new acquisition will now receive further ongoing support to continue its growth, including a secondary capital event which could double its market value. Specialising in pensions and investments, the acquisition of Complete Financial Planning brings 11 advisers and staff into the group as well as over 1,300 clients and more than £170m funds under management.
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David Rawlings said: "The Fairstone proposition appealed to us as it provides an opportunity to work closely with one of the UK's largest Chartered financial planning firms, to build our business together. We have been working closely with the Fairstone team over the past three years and the integration has been virtually seamless.
"We have embraced their Gateway system, which is a fantastic back-office system and is significantly better than what we were using before. Fairstone also shares the same cultural values and integrity as we do when it comes to putting clients first and foremost, making us an excellent fit."
Fairstone CEO Lee Hartley added: "Complete is a quality firm with first-class individuals, who share our commitment to exceptional service and ambition to grow. They joined us at a rather difficult time globally as we were just going into lockdown with all the challenges that presented, but we worked closely with the team throughout the integration phase to provide the support and framework to grow the business.
"This demonstrates the unique strength of our acquisition model in that it gives firms the opportunity to be supported on a variety of levels to grow and maximise profits ahead of a sale, safeguarding business value even during periods of market downturn. This is again very pertinent, given the headwinds we are seeing across the sector, meaning that firms simply choosing to complete a traditional sell now process could well receive less value for their business.
"Instead, our acquisition model supports firm owners to navigate unfavourable market conditions, by partnering with them and supporting them to grow ahead of a sale, while business owners can control the timing of the sale window to optimise value."
Boldon-based Fairstone has over 40 locations across the UK overseeing £13.5bn funds under management for over 45,000 wealth clients.
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