The first of its successes in this area was announced today, with the purchase of Foot Davson’s IFA business increasing Bellpenny’s assets under advice by a further £60m.
Kevin Ronaldson, CEO of Bellpenny, said: “Now the dust has settled on the introduction of the RDR and the realities of a more onerous regulatory framework have sunk in, we expect more professional services firms to follow Foot Davson’s lead.
“For the majority of accountants and solicitors, the business case for operating their own financial planning operations has become far harder to make in the new environment.”
Buy targets
The acquisition of Tunbridge Wells-based Foot Davson brings an additional 850 clients under Bellpenny’s stable and the firm said it expected several other deals of this type to close by the end of the year.
Back in January Bellpenny said it was targeting up to 60 IFA acquisitions in the following 18 months and hoped to boost its assets under administration to over £1bn in the process.
Find out what makes your firm a buy target in the post-RDR era.
“We’re already well down the road in negotiations with other accountancy firms and we warmly welcome approaches from any professional services firm which is rethinking its approach to providing clients with financial planning solutions.
“It is clear the maxim of focusing on what you do best then outsourcing the rest is being heeded by more and more organisations in a post-RDR environment,” added Bellpenny’s acquisitions and sales director Dominic Rose.
Read more about Bellpenny’s acquisitions so far.
