London-based Brooks Macdonald Asset Management is to manage the investment portfolios of the clients of Exeter’s RK Shipman on a discretionary basis under a new strategic alliance.

The arrangement will allow “both firms to scale significantly in their respective areas of expertise”, Andrew Shepherd, joint managing director of Brooks Macdonald Asset Management, said in a statement. Additionally, the discretionary management service “provides RK Shipman clients with a robust Retail Distribution Review-compliant solution,” he said. 

RK Shipman follows a number of firms looking to larger players to provide discretionary management services in the run-up to the RDR, a package of reforms aimed boosting the independence of financial advice which comes into force at the end of 2012.

As at June 2010, Brooks Macdonald Asset Management’s funds under management stand at £2.2 billion ($3.5 billion), having been £915 million three years previously. Over 70 per cent of this growth has come through third-party introducers, the firm said.