Quilter, the specialist private client wealth management business with an office in Bristol, is to merge with independently-owned discretionary investment firm Cheviot Asset Management.
The deal, funded by Quilter’s European private equity firm owner Bridgepoint, is subject to regulatory approval but is likely to complete at the end of the year. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
The combined business, which will be known as Quilter Cheviot, will have total assets under management of mo
re than £12bn (Quilter’s £8.2bn and Cheviot’s £4.1bn), most of which are discretionary portfolios run on behalf of private clients, charities and trusts, pension funds, corporate bodies and life companies.
Quilter has 385 staff based in 13 locations in the UK, Jersey and Ireland, including Bristol, where it employs 15 people at its Queen Square base. It also has a branch in Salisbury.
The office, headed by Pamela Reid and which covers most of the South West, has grown in recent years through increased business with private individuals and trusts. It is also the national base for advice on SIPPs (Self-Invested Personal Pensions), an area of the business which has grown rapidly.
Ms Reid said: “This is excellent news for Quilter and our clients in the Bristol area. Cheviot’s business ethics are very similar to ours.”
Cheviot has 139 partners and other staff in offices in London and Liverpool. The combined group will be run by Quilter chief executive Martin Baines. Cheviot CEO Michael Kerr-Dineen will join the holdings board of Quilter Cheviot and act as a senior adviser to the firm.
Mr Baines said: “We have made no secret of our intention to join forces with complementary businesses to accelerate our growth and there is a really strong fit between the two firms. The many synergies will benefit all of our clients and, as a combined business managing over £12bn of assets, we will have the scale and resources to be an even more powerful contender in the private client wealth management sector.”
Mr Kerr-Dineen added: “Cheviot has had a tremendous run of success since we started out in 2006. This transaction is recognition of all we have achieved and provides us with far greater scale and geographic reach and will enable us to enhance our client services and capabilities still further. Quilter shares many of our values and aspirations and we are all looking forward to working with our new colleagues. The creation of Quilter Cheviot will provide wealth management clients with a tremendous source of advice, experience and security in today’s uncertain financial markets.”
Advisers involved in the transaction included: for Quilter/Bridgepoint – Linklaters (legal) and PwC (financial, tax & regulatory); for Cheviot – Addleshaws (legal) and Deloitte (tax); for management – Weil, Gotshal & Manges (legal).
