Coxell expects the recent acquisition of the firm by St James’s Place will enable Rowan Dartington to add in the order of £500m in new assets per year.
“It has been a phenomenal outcome,” he said. “Having been involved in a number of M&A transactions over my life, this one sticks out for having the clearest upside for both sides.”
“I’m confident in saying we will be the UK’s fastest growing DFM,” Coxell continued. “We are at around £1.3bn right now and this will grow siginificantly over the coming year. Last year we grew by over 20% without any impact from St James’s Place, and going forward I would expect us to be writing in the region of half a billion a year in new business.”
Coxell said that while the firm remains very much open to third party adviser business, much of the new money will come in via St James’s Place’s 3000 advisers. Not all of these will initially be able to access the Rowan Dartington proposition however, as they will need to go through an ‘accreditation process’. This will help Rowan Dartington to manage the pace at which the new money comes, Coxell explained.
Rowan Dartington will have to grow its headcount significantly to meet the demands of looking after the new money flowing in, Coxell added. He anticipates total headcount will rise from around 130 at present to close to 200 by the end of 2016. These hires will be a mixture of investment managers and back office staff.
The firm recently installed former Prudential man John Betteridge as CIO and three further senior appointments are in the works.
Coxell said he is in the process of hiring directors for the south of the UK, the north of the UK and to oversee ‘large business units’.
The south of UK and large business units roles are likely to be filled by internal candidates in the near future he said, while the firm is planning to make an external hire for the north of UK position.
