UK-based financial planning group Fairstone has sealed another “downstream buyout” deal.

Fairstone Group has acquired Staffordshire-based Angela Murfitt Financial for an undisclosed sum, as part of its downstream buyout model.

Angela Murfitt Financial specialises in investment, pensions and inheritance tax planning. Fairstone first partnered with the company four years ago. Since then, the company’s revenues have grown 80 per cent; funds under management are at £30 million ($37 million).

Since her company partnered with the group, Angela Murfitt has served as a member of Fairstone’s board of chartered financial planners, which provides technical leadership to the group and guides the company’s professional development efforts to ensure that half of Fairstone’s advisors are qualified to level six.

“With a focus on providing clear and reliable retirement planning and investment advice, Angela Murfitt Financial is an excellent example of the type of company Fairstone is looking to partner with,” said Lee Hartley, chief executive of Fairstone Group. 

“As a Chartered Financial Planner, Angela takes the time to get to know her clients and works with them to create, protect and preserve their wealth and achieve their life goals. We look forward to an ongoing relationship with the team, supporting their marketing, front and back office and client acquisition strategies in order to help them to grow the business.”

Fairstone’s model allows the group to take an initial minority stake in an independent financial advisor business and integrate the firm over a number of years. This, Fairstone says, seeks to minimise its exposure to integration risk and allows the acquired company to profit from their own success upon final acquisition.

There are 22 advisor firms under this type of arrangement with Fairstone. They have access to the group’s technology platform and are also supported in marketing, new client acquisition and reactivating dormant clients. 

In July, Fairstone agreed to acquire Hase Osborne Asset Management, a Buckinghamshire-based financial planning and wealth management firm.