UK private bank Brown Shipley has almost doubled its size in Scotland with the completion of its acquisition of the four-strong investment management arm of law firm Gillespie Macandrew for an undisclosed sum.

The deal, first announced in September, means that Brown Shipley’s Edinburgh office will now manage about £250 million ($393 million) in client assets.

Charles Fotheringham, the head of the team, is now a private client director at Brown Shipley, while Robert Hunter, Colin Robertson and Keith Barron have become private client senior managers.

The team will work alongside Brown Shipley’s existing investment arm, consisting of six people headed by Graham Auld, private client director.

Brown Shipley has had an office in the Scottish capital since 2008, and it is in the process of finding a new office to support this and future expansions. The private bank hopes to announce a new office in February next year, a spokesperson for the firm told WealthBriefing.

When the deal was announced in Septemeber, Ian Turnbull, Gillespie Macandrew’s managing partner, said that the increasing regulatory burden had made it difficult for smaller firms such as his to provide the investment management services they would ideally like.

Separately, Brown Shipley has also been active in England and recently relocated its Birmingham office to new premises at 45 Church Street, in order to accommodate an expanding team which has seen three new senior hires this year. Birmingham is known as the second city of England.