This year saw Perspective Financial Group snap up a dozen firms, the latest of which is Hunter & Co (IFA), which is based in Burntwood, Staffordshire.
The acquisition spree is set to continue into 2023, with Perspective having exchanged on four further M&A deals, all of which await Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approval.
Hunter & Co’s roots go back to the mid-1990s. It has 390 households as clients with £115m ($142.4m, €133.7m) assets under management. The firm advises clients throughout Shropshire, Staffordshire, the West Midlands and Warwickshire.
Directors Scott Flemings and Steve Bennett will continue to head up the office in Burntwood, which will now be known as Perspective (Staffordshire), while retaining all existing staff. Financial details were not disclosed.
Flemings and Bennett said: “Our firm has a particularly loyal client base with many relationships going back over 30 years. With Perspective’s help and resources, we are excited to embark on the next stage of growth and development for the office.
“We looked at several potential partners. Right from the first contact with Perspective, we felt they were genuinely client centric and had a similar view on value for money and fees. It was very important to us that any new partner shared our vision for strengthening our office including keeping the current staff and location. We are pleased to now become part of Perspective.”
Perspective chief executive Ian Wilkinson added: “2022 has been an outstanding year for us, completing 12 acquisitions, one every month. In total, we have added seven new offices, nearly 3,000 households as clients and over £800m AuM.
“We have very strong momentum with four further acquisitions planned to complete in early 2023, once FCA approval is received. This is on top of our biggest ever pipeline of acquisitions, both large and small. We relish the opportunity to grow further at scale and pace.”
“Perspective has been built around a culture of putting our clients at the centre of our decision-making process to ensure that we always deliver good client outcomes, as far back as our beginning in 2007. We always put ourselves in our clients’ shoes first and foremost, so our vision and core values are perfectly aligned to the incoming Consumer Duty, as though the new Principle was written to match our entire ethos.”
Over the past 12 months, Perspective has acquired:
Informed Financial Advice, Goldwyns Wealth Management, Esk Valley Financial Services, Jeff Thurlbeck, Paul J Flynn, Ramsey Financial, Searchlight Investments, Stafford Wealth Management, TCS Life and Pensions and The MGroup Financial Services, Andrew Whitehouse, and Beanland Financial Services.
