Schroders has agreed to sell its Benchmark business to Sweden's Söderberg & Partners at a time when the former business is itself being acquired by US-headquartered Nuveen. The Scandinavian firm said it wants to be a top provider of financial advisory services in the UK.

Schroders has agreed to sell Benchmark, its UK integrated financial advice business, to Sweden-based Söderberg & Partners, which Schroders said sharpens its focus on wealth management - operations that are centred on Cazenove Capital in the UK and Schroders Wealth Management internationally.

Schroders and Söderberg & Partners will build on their existing collaboration, with Schroders becoming a long-term asset management partner to the combined business, providing whole-portfolio solutions, Schroders said in a statement today.

Benchmark supports approximately 1,000 advisors across the UK, partners with 200 financial advisory firms, and has £31 billion ($41.35 billion) of assets under influence. This looks a determined play by Söderberg & Partners to become one of the largest providers of financial advice in the UK. It established its UK operations in 2024. The Benchmark purchase means the Swedish firm now has around £140 billion asset under advice, of which about £60 billion relates to the UK operations. 

The financial size of the transaction wasn't disclosed by Schroders or Söderberg & Partners in their statements.  

The transaction plays an important roles in Schroders' strategy announced in March 2025 to simplify the group and concentrate its investment on the areas where it can create the greatest long-term value for clients and shareholders. Schroders is itself in the process of being acquired. Nuveen, the $1.4 trillion AuM US asset manager and wholly owned subsidiary of financial services organisation TIAA, said in February it had agreed to buy the venerable UK-listed group. That deal came shortly after NatWest Group’s purchase of Evelyn Partners. The Nuveen/Schroders transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2026, after the final regulatory and antitrust clearances.

It creates a focused wealth management business centred on Cazenove Capital in the UK and Schroders Wealth Management internationally, enabling investment in people, technology, and client capabilities, the firm continued.

Swedish-based Söderberg & Partners is a large wealth managements group operating across Europe with £108 billion ($144 billion) in assets under advice. As part of the transaction, Schroders and Söderberg & Partners will build on their existing collaboration, with Schroders becoming a long-term asset management partner, providing whole-portfolio solutions.

For Benchmark, the transaction provides the ownership structure, investment, and backing to support the business through its next phase of growth in the UK advice market, while offering continuity for advisors and clients.

“This transaction marks another important milestone in delivering the wealth management strategy we set out in 2025,” Oliver Gregson (pictured below), CEO of wealth management at Schroders, said. “It further sharpens our focus, enabling us to concentrate our investment, expertise and ambition behind the clients and markets where we have the strongest right to win and where we believe we can create the greatest long-term value.”

Oliver Gregson

“We are building a modern, global and truly client-led wealth management business - centred on Cazenove Capital in the UK and Schroders Wealth Management internationally - serving high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients, family offices, charities, endowments and foundations,” he added.

Perella Weinberg Partners and Slaughter and May acted as advisors to Schroders on the deal. Fenchurch and White & Case acted as advisors to Söderberg & Partners. 

The prize
"Söderberg & Partners strongly believes in the power of scale," the firm said in a statement today. "Across industries, it is common that the three largest players ultimately capture around 70–90 per cent of total revenue over time, as markets consolidate and efficiency, technology and distribution scale become decisive competitive advantages. The financial advisory industry is currently undergoing a significant consolidation wave across Europe, and Söderberg & Partners has a clear ambition to be one of the long-term winners in this structural transformation."