Société Générale Private Banking Hambros has signed an agreement to buy the private client investment management business of Baring Asset Management based in the UK and Guernsey, in a deal expected to become effective in May 2011.

Barings' private client arm is headquartered in London and has been managing the wealth of private individuals for over 200 years, according to the firm’s website. The firm also has an office for private clients in Guernsey.

The acquisition is part of SocGen Private Banking’s global strategy to expand through both internal and selective external growth in order to increase its presence in key established markets, the firm said in a statement.

In other recent news, in October last year SGPB Hambros rolled out an intermediary platform for wealth managers, family offices and high net worth IFAs, driven by developments such as the UK’s regulator's Retail Distribution Review package of reforms for the advisory industry.

SocGen Private Banking recently established a new executive committee as part of its ambitious growth plans for wealth management and named Eric Barnett as chief executive of SGPB Hambros.

SGPB Hambros employs over 520 people, including 90 private bankers, in the UK (in London, Cambridge, Southampton, Yorkshire, Manchester, Edinburgh and Milton Keynes), Jersey, Guernsey, Gibraltar and the Bahamas.