7IM buys DFM with family office focus

Seven Investment Management has agreed to takeover Tcam Asset Management in a bid to enhance its active management capabilities despite the Scottish firm last year expressing caution about merging with another company.

7IM buys DFM with family office focus
2 minutes

The deal will see the London-headquartered wealth manager acquire 100% of the shares in Tcam, creating a firm with £13.6bn of assets under management.

The amount paid in the deal has not been disclosed.

The acquisition is slated to complete by the end of 2018, at which point Tcam, which holds £1.1bn in AUM, will operate wholly under the 7IM brand.

7IM CEO Tom Sheridan (pictured) said combining the two businesses will add to 7IM’s active management capabilities.

Sheridan added the Tcam Private Office will appeal to both 7IM’s intermediary and direct clients.

Merger wary

Tcam has a family office arm and described itself as an intergenerational discretionary wealth manager and financial planner in an interview with Portfolio Adviser last August.

Joint-chief executive Haig Bathgate said the management buyout of their discretionary wealth division from the law firm, Turcan Connell, was the best decision they could have made for their business.

Co-chief executive Alex Montgomery was also part of the MBO.

Bathgate at the time raised concerns about the implications for longstanding client relationships getting lost in the reshuffle of combining with another business.

Portfolio Adviser reached out to Tcam to enquire about Bathgate’s change of heart but was re-directed to the 7IM press release.

7IM expansion

Sheridan said the deal deepens 7IM’s presence in Scotland. Tcam has offices in Mayfair, partially established to service the children of their Scotland-based clients.

7IM announced in April it would be launching an office in Jersey.

Bathgate and Montgomery will become partners in 7IM and will join the 7IM management committee. Several other senior Tcam members are expected to become partners in 7IM as well.

Montgomery said: “We have been growing well from our Edinburgh base and this combination provides us with greater scale.” He added the 7IM Platform would enhance their service to clients.

The acquisition is subject to approval by the Financial Conduct Authority.

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