Across the UK and rest of the MENA region, a collection of the mergers and acquisitions in the sector for the first five months of 2024.

A summary of wealth management, banking and related mergers and acquisitions during January, February, March, April and May 2024. In some cases, the purchase price was disclosed; in certain cases, no price was given. Not all of the transactions had been cleared by regulators at the time of the stories’ publication. (Some of the financial amounts are converted into dollars and we done at the time of the article originally going to press.)

HSBC, Crédit Commercial de France
HSBC wrapped up the sale of its French retail banking business to Crédit Commercial de France (CCF), a subsidiary of My Money Group. All necessary approvals were granted. My Money Group said it would have total assets surpassing €30 billion ($33.11 billion) and a solvency position with a CET1 ratio exceeding 15 per cent.

Succession Wealth
Succession Wealth, a UK wealth management and financial planning group which has bought scores of firms over the past decade, acquired DFP Health & Wealth Management, a Plymouth-based financial advice business which manages over £165 million ($210 million) in assets.

Boston Multi Family Office
Boston Multi Family Office wrapped up its acquisition of the fiduciary business Turnstone (Isle of Man) Limited. Boston is headquartered in the Isle of Man and has an office in Malta. (It has no direct business connection, despite its name, to the US.)

The deal, which was Boston’s third acquisition since the management buyout in October 2019, followed the purchase of IQE Limited in 2020 and Fedelta Trust Limited in early 2023.

AEW Europe
AEW Europe, the real estate manager with €82.6 billion ($90.6 billion) of assets under management, as at the end of September last year, completed its purchase of Natixis Investment Managers International's private debt business. The financial terms were not disclosed. The acquired business is made up of a team of 30 people, based in Hong Kong and Paris.

LarrainVial
LarrainVial, a Chilean financial services group, bought a minority (25 per cent) stake in Aubrey Capital Management, the Edinburgh and London-based specialist global equity manager. The stake was made by LVCC, the holding company controlling LarrainVial Asset Management. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

Objectway
Objectway bought Canadian digital wealth solutions business Nest Wealth. Objectway is a Europe-headquartered provider of Software-as-a-service and other services to banks, wealth and asset managers. The financial terms were not disclosed.

FNZ
FNZ, a global wealth management platform, completed the acquisition of ifsam, International Fund Services & Asset Management, a business-to-business fund platform based in Luxembourg. The purchase, originally announced in February last year, followed regulatory approval. The financial terms were not disclosed.

Ocorian
Ocorian, a specialist global provider of financial and corporate administration services and regulatory solutions to financial institutions, asset managers, corporates and high net worth individuals, completed the acquisition of specialist regulatory consultancy Bovill.

General Atlantic, Partners Capital
General Atlantic, the US private equity firm, took a minority stake in Partners Capital, an outsourced chief investment office. The stake was bought by Partners Capital’s external shareholders and some of the founding generation partners. The financial size of the transaction was not disclosed by Partners Capital.

Allianz X, AITi Tiedemann Global, Constellation Wealth
Allianz X and Constellation Wealth Capital invested up to $450 million into AlTi Tiedemann Global, the transatlantic multi-family office, so that it can finance M&A activity. CWC, an investment advisory firm specialising in making investments in wealth managers, invests $150 million. Allianz X, an investment arm of Allianz SE, invests up to $300 million through one of its affiliates, AlTi Tiedemann Global. 

London & Capital, Waverton
UK-based wealth management companies London & Capital and Waverton merged their firms. The financial terms were not disclosed. The combined entity has more than £17 billion ($21.5 billion) in assets under management. As part of the deal, US-based private equity firm Lovell Minnick Partners, which focuses on financial companies, and L&C’s majority shareholder, took a majority stake in the combined group. Somers Ltd, the majority shareholder in Waverton since 2013, continued as a “significant” shareholder in the new business.

WineFi, Coterie Holdings
WineFi, a UK-based fintech platform, announced an investment from Coterie Holdings, a UK fine wine group. The investment from Coterie Holdings followed WineFi’s pre-seed round, led by SFC Capital, with support from Founders Capital and an array of high-profile angels – including incoming Inchcape chairman Jerry Buhlmann.

Sienna Investment Managers
Sienna Investment Managers entered the Italian market and strengthened its private debt business by joining forces with Milan-based Ver Capital SGR, an independent asset manager. By combining their expertise and resources, Sienna IM and Ver Capital now manage about €3 billion ($3.2 billion) in private debt, out of €34.1 billion of total assets under management.

BraddockMatthew, David Barrett Partners
BraddockMatthews and David Barrett Partners merged to create an international asset management executive search business. The new business, comprising 30 people, is called BraddockMatthewsBarrett. It has nine partners in New York, Boston and London, and an associated staff of consultants, research, and administrative professionals.

Crestbridge, Gen II Fund Services
Gen II Fund Services, the private capital fund administrator, completed its acquisition of Crestbridge, the European provider of private capital fund administration services. As previously announced in July 2023, Gen II Fund Services bought Crestbridge’s institutional businesses for an undisclosed sum.

JTC, First Republic Trust Company of Delaware
JTC announced its proposed acquisition of First Republic Trust Company of Delaware (FRTC-DE), a subsidiary of JP Morgan Chase Bank, as the Jersey-headquartered group bolstered its position as a provider of trust administration services in the US. FRTC-DE provides trust administration services to high net worth individuals and is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware. When completed, FRTC-DE became part of JTC’s Private Client Services (PCS) division.

Redmayne Bentley
UK wealth management and stockbroking firm Redmayne Bentley confirmed that, subject to regulatory and court approval, it was acquiring the private client business of Blankstone Sington.

Julius Baer, Kairos Partners
Julius Baer wrapped up the sale of Italian asset management business Kairos Partners to Italy-based Anima Holding. The transaction was first announced in November 2023. The deal comprised a payment of approximately €20 million ($21.4 million) to €25 million. 

Marygold & Co (UK)
The firm completed its acquisition of Step-By-Step Financial Planners (SBS) a UK-based investment advisor. Based in Rugeley, Staffordshire, England, SBS has about £27 million ($34 million) in assets under advice. Marygold & Co (UK) was formed in August 2021 to make acquisitions in the UK for its parent company in the US, The Marygold Companies.  

Tabula Investment Management, Janus Henderson
Asset manager Janus Henderson agreed to acquire European exchange-traded funds (ETF) provider Tabula Investment Management.

Nucleus
UK-based Nucleus Financial Platforms secured regulatory clearance to buy Third Financial, an investment platform and software provider. The acquisition – financial terms of which have not been disclosed – enable Nucleus to build its “advisor-as-a platform proposition," it said. At present, Nucleus has £89 billion ($113 billion) of assets under administration.

Titan Wealth
Titan Wealth completed another deal with London-based investment boutique Wigmore Associates Wealth Management. The deal increased Titan Wealth’s assets under management to over £17.4 billion ($22 billion).