Nottingham-headquartered Wren Sterling Group has acquired two advice firms in Northern Ireland and a further business in St Helens for undisclosed sums.
The deals have added around 2,000 clients and £400m ($503m, €460m) of assets.
Ralston Bennett Financial Planning and its appointed representative business, Aspects Financial, will combine to create Wren Sterling’s first permanent base in Northern Ireland, with the two offices located in Holywood and Newtownards, respectively.
The two firms comprise seven financial advisers between them and serve clients across Northern Ireland in the private client and corporate client markets.
Separately, Callisto Wealth serves around 140 households from its St Helens base and will become part of Wren Sterling’s north west hub in Wilmslow.
Northern Ireland growth
James Twining, chief executive of Wren Sterling, said: “I would like to welcome all our new colleagues from Ralston Bennett and Aspects Financial into the Wren Sterling Group. Our move into Northern Ireland is strategically very important for us. We already have clients in Northern Ireland who will be better served by a local adviser, and we see real opportunity to grow in what is a large and attractive market.
“We intend to support our new Northern Ireland management team through further acquisitions, while enabling them to grow organically through the strategic change programme we’re executing elsewhere in Wren Sterling. This will simplify our operations and reduce client charges through a preferred platform strategy, alongside a refreshed proposition and brand.
“We are also excited to welcome Andrew Platt and his team at Callisto Wealth. As a chartered financial planner, Andrew has long-lasting and trusted relationships with his clients and wants to spend more time helping his clients and less time on the non-client facing and increasingly onerous aspects of running a regulated financial services business.”
2023 is set to be a key year for Wren Sterling’s acquisition strategy with four acquisitions already completed and a “growing and significant pipeline”, the firm said.
The most recent acquisition was the purchase of Glasgow-based advice firm Active Wealth Management for an undisclosed sum.
