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Newcastle’s Fairstone Group to grow South West operations with new acquisition

Fairstone Group, the Newcastle-headquartered financial planning firm, has acquired a Devon-based financial planning firm to broaden its operations within the South West of England.

Fairstone’s addition of South West Financial Planning has added £50m of funds under management, bringing the total for the Group to £2.1bn. Over three thousand clients will join the firm’s existing portfolio of thirty thousand, and ten advisers will add to its growing adviser base of over two hundred and forty.

The acquisition was instigated using Fairstone’s “Downstream Buy-Out” model, which allows firms to fully integrate with Fairstone’s systems over a period of time – a transition period which proves a huge help to both advisers and clients.

Lee Hartley, CEO of Fairstone, said: “We’re delighted to welcome South West Financial Planning to the Fairstone Group. The team represents a great cultural fit with us, and we’re looking forward to working together to grow our combined client base over the coming years.

“Fairstone has seen very significant growth over the past few years, both organically and through acquisition. Since 2011, 35 advisory firms have joined the business and it continues to seek high quality financial services companies to partner with and ultimately acquire.”

David Roberts, Director at South West Financial Planning, said: “Fairstone’s DBO proposition is undoubtedly an attractive one. It doesn’t just focus on the traditional proposition of saving on compliance and regulatory workload. It’s much more than that; it’s about investing in the future and providing long term benefits for clients, advisers and principals alike.

“We note a real commitment within Fairstone to create a financial services organisation that stands out from the crowd. The firm and its employees are committed to quality, and this is clear from their investment into the Fairstone Academy, dedicated to the professional development of advisers. As an already Chartered business, this was really important to us. Their progressive commitment to technological advancement was also critical.”

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