baker tilly sells advice arm to towry

Baker Tilly has sold its private client financial advice and investment management business to Towry for an undisclosed sum.

baker tilly sells advice arm to towry

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The deal includes the brand Link2wealth and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2014.

The business, which advises more than 4,500 private clients and holds over £1.5bn in assets, was previously owned by RSM Tenon before being acquired by Baker Tilly last year as part of its merger with the firm.

The large majority of staff, including financial consultants, are expected to transfer following the deal.

Baker Tilly’s managing partner Laurence Longe said: “One of the key strengths of our merger with RSM Tenon is that many of the core service offerings from both firms fit well and complement each other.

“However, we knew we would need to consider whether some services would play a part in the newly-merged firm in the future.

“The decision to sell this business will mean that we can focus on areas where both firms have expertise, and strengthen our commitment to our chosen markets and key areas of growth going forward.”

Chief executive officer at Towry, Rob Devey, said: “This is a hugely important and exciting deal for us.

“Towry has been very impressed by the people we have met and our aim is to provide an outstanding service to their clients and an outstanding work environment for the team who will be joining us.”

The transaction follows Towry’s acquisition of Bluefin from Axa, completed in November 2013.

Earlier this week Baker Tilly became the subject of a legal case involving the mis-selling of funds by its advisers.

Law firm Regulatory Legal will act for investors who feel they were wrongly sold now suspended Brandeaux property funds by former RSM Tenon advisers at the company.

They include the unregulated Brandeaux Student Accommodation Fund, which was delisted from the Irish Stock Exchange last month, as well as the Ground Rents, and Dual Assets funds, which were suspended along with Brandeaux’s entire fund range last July.

Tobias Haynes, paralegal at Regulatory Legal said the unregulated, high risk funds were sold to characteristically low risk investors, with advisers exploiting their lack of financial knowledge.

“These are everyday people that have been caught up in something that they don’t really know anything about,” he said. “They had only heard good things about the products. They thought they could put everything into the product and were guaranteed some sort of return.”
 

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