Wealth manager completes £75m FUM purchase of AIS Ltd and acquires £112m FUM from The Hammond Consultancy.

Bellpenny, the national wealth manager and IFA acquirer, announced today that it has completed two more transactions involving IFA businesses, with combined funds under management of £187m. This brings the company’s total number of deals to date to 15.

The acquisition of Actuarial & Investment Services Ltd (AIS), a North West London-based IFA encompasses £75m of funds under management, with assets evenly split between pensions and investment business. Most of AIS’s clients live in the North & Central London and the Home Counties areas.

The second deal is from The Hammond Consultancy (THC), an IFA based in Birmingham. It brings £112m of funds under management, around two thirds of the funds deriving from investment business, and the remainder being pensions related. The majority of clients are based in the West Midlands area.

Bellpenny’s CEO Kevin Ronaldson commented:
“It is very pleasing to be getting 2014 off to a flying start, with the announcement of two more substantial transactions involving well-respected IFA businesses.

The RDR was very much the catalyst for the formation of Bellpenny and, 12 months on from its introduction, the reverberations continue to be seen across the UK advice sector. It’s fair to say that every one of our 15 deals to date can be attributed, to a greater or lesser degree, to The RDR, the after-effects of which will be felt by our industry for many years to come.”

David Moss, Founding Director of AIS said:
“Having decided to spend more time and effort away from the financial services industry my main concern was to find a company who would provide the high level of service that my clients have grown to expect. Bellpenny provides the face-to-face, personalised service that I was looking for. They combine the benefits of modern technology with the traditional virtues of treating each client as an individual, displaying great professionalism, knowledge and understanding.”

John Cerone, Director of the Hammond Consultancy, said:
“Following an internal review, we concluded that we should move forward with a more focused business model, geared to the demands of the post-RDR environment. Bellpenny’s flexible attitude to deal structures helped facilitate what I believe to be a mutually advantageous outcome for our businesses.”