Wren Sterling has added more than £250mn to its assets under management with the purchase of HB&O Financial Services.
The purchase is the third acquisition of the year by Wren Sterling as it moves to strengthen its regional presence beyond its existing operations in Warwick.
Based in Leamington Spa, HB&O is a chartered firm with over 850 clients.
As part of the deal, 22 of the firms employees will move to Wren Sterling, including HB&O’s five chartered financial planners, two chartered paraplanners and its mortgage adviser.
Wren Sterling chief executive, James Twining said: “We’ve already made three strategic acquisitions this year with further deals to follow. This is accelerating our growth, bringing fresh ideas into the business, and giving us real presence in key geographic locations.
"The West Midlands, and in particular Warwickshire, has huge potential which we can now tap into alongside the HB&O Financial Services team.”
HB&O managing director, Jason Strain added that the sale was the “logical next step for the business”.
“We recognised the same cultural traits in our businesses, which is important to me and my staff.
"Thanks to the strong synergy between our operating systems and the support of Wren Sterling’s dedicated integration team we don’t anticipate any disruption to client service. In fact, we expect our clients to be able to benefit from being part of the broader Wren Sterling Group.”
In a statement, Wren Sterling said the close links HB&O has with accountancy firm Harrison Beale & Owen Limited will be retained.
The acquisition is subject to FCA approval.
As previously reported by FTAdviser, the business has a particular focus on acquiring new hubs in London, the South West, the Midlands and Edinburgh.
In July, Wren Sterling announced the acquisition of Oxfordshire-based financial adviser, Critchleys Financial Planning.
jane.matthews@ft.com
