Advice firm St James’s Place (SJP) has decided not to buy Ireland-based pensions and investment firm Harvest Financial Services “following careful consideration”, it said on 12 January.
“This reflects a strategic decision regarding this opportunity by St James’s Place and does not reflect in any way upon Harvest Financial Services.”
Harvest had been seeking portfolio management permissions
The deal was announced in February 2019; and, at the time, SJP said it would look to expand its discretionary fund management (DFM) offering, Rowan Dartington, to the Republic of Ireland.
This would have been possible once Harvest Financial Services received portfolio management permissions from the Central Bank of Ireland, which it had been set to apply for.
Speaking to Portfolio Adviser at the time, Rowan Dartington executive chairman Graham Coxell said the move was “absolutely not” a “Brexit hedge strategy”.
Portfolio Adviser sister publication International Adviser asked SJP whether the firm still has ambitions to grow its DFM operation on the Emerald Isle.
A spokesperson for the firm said: “The decision only relates to the acquisition of Harvest Financial Services. SJP will continue to consider opportunities as and when they present themselves.”
The firm declined to comment on whether there had been any problems getting permissions from the Central Bank of Ireland.
Rowan Dartington had denied acquisition links to Brexit
The UK-based wealth manager currently provides DFM services to its domestic and Hong Kong clients via its wholly-owned subsidiary Rowan Dartington, which became part of St James’s Place Wealth Management in 2016.
SJP had previously denied the Irish acquisition was made to create a European Union base ahead of Brexit.
In February 2019, Graham Coxell, executive chairman of Rowan Dartington, said: “This isn’t a strategy for us having a strategic footprint in the EU,” he said. “We haven’t looked at it in that way because there is too much uncertainty around it to be honest. This is a local market play.”
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