Liverpool City Region’s Rathbone Brothers acquires wealth management giant Saunderson House for £150m
Wealth management giant Rathbone Brothers has announced the acquisition of the UK’s biggest professional services financial planning firm for £150m.
Rathbones is based in Liverpool’s Port of Liverpool building.
The Merseyside business, which operates from the iconic Port of Liverpool building, has bought Saunderson House for a deal comprising an initial consideration of £135.1m and a deferred consideration of £14.9m. The latter will be payable a year after completion.
Saunderson House supports thousands of high net-worth clients with a focus on professional services clients in London and the South East, with an average portfolio size of £2.2m.
Paul Stockton, CEO of Rathbones, said: “Saunderson House is a high-quality business with a strong desire to deliver leading wealth management services to clients over the long term, and it will add both scale and capability to Rathbones.
“Commonly shared values and a resolute focus on delivering quality client outcomes provide a firm foundation from which to take advantage of some exciting growth opportunities. I very much look forward to welcoming everyone at Saunderson House to the Rathbones group as we work to exceed our ambitions together.”
The firm added that the deal further strengthens its financial planning capability, enhancing its ability to offer a “wider wealth” proposition to clients.
The acquisition is subject to approval by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Rathbones also announced this morning that it had successfully placed over 2.8m ordinary shares at a price of 1,760p each – raising gross proceeds of £50m to go towards the acquisition.
Tony Overy, CEO of Saunderson House, added: “Over the course of extensive recent engagement between Saunderson House and Rathbones, it has become clear to us that there is a high level of cultural alignment between our two businesses; both have been built on serving clients to the highest standards and building enduring relationships based on trust and integrity.
“By doing this over many years we have each built a high-quality business with very loyal and satisfied clients.
“I am absolutely delighted with our decision to partner with Rathbones which I believe will allow us to continue doing exactly this, with access to Rathbones’ significant additional investment management capability and market-leading investment process.
“This transaction provides long-term ownership stability for Saunderson House to enable us to continue to focus on providing our high level of client service, developing and enhancing our proposition, and providing an excellent environment for our people as part of a well-respected and well-capitalised group.”
Read more about Liverpool City Region’s thriving Financial and Professional sector HERE.