Brooks Macdonald Asset Management has bolstered its Manchester office with the appointment of a new investment manager.

Andrew Wilson - who will both run private client investment portfolios and be part of BMAM’s research team - joins the firm from Brown Shipley, where he had been a private client manager responsible for client relationships and research. Before this he was an investment analyst and partner at Bollin Asset Management.

With the hire of Wilson BMAM’s Manchester office now has a staff of twelve; the firm as a whole currently has 34 investment managers.

In other recent news, at the start of October it emerged that BMAM was in advanced discussions to enter a strategic partnership with Sterling Mount Wealth to deliver a new range of discretionary managed portfolios. In the summer of this year BMAM formed an alliance with RK Shipman, one of many firms looking to larger players to provide discretionary management services in the run-up to the Retail Distribution Review, due to come into force at the end of 2012.

Brooks Macdonald Asset Management has offices in London, Hampshire, Manchester, Tunbridge Wells and Edinburgh and currently has £2.186 billion (around $3.44 billion) in funds under management.