South African First National Bank’s parent company FirstRand, has boosted its wealth management capacity by offering to buy all of stockbroking firm Barnard Jacobs Mellet’s ordinary shares for a maximum cash consideration valued at R207 million (around $27 million).

The payment is valued at R4.50 per share.

FNB said it plans to integrate BJM’s businesses and skills into its existing wealth segment.

“[FNB] will not override the current businesses in BJM and will maintain their operating processes. Thus, I do not foresee that the existing 11,000 customers of BJM will experience any noticeable changes.  BJM is a strong brand and a rated institution in South Africa, therefore the brand will remain unchanged,” said Michael Jordaan, chief executive of FNB.

The acquisition will enable bond and equity trades for the bank's wealthier clients and give existing BJM customers access to wider services across FNB’s business units.

“FNB’s 45,000 clients in its wealth segment are defined as clients with an income in excess of R1.1m p/a. This is closely aligned with the client base of BJM and we expect that the additional expertise of the BJM team will easily adapt to the larger client base in FNB Wealth,” he said.

“At the same time our clients should immediately notice the added depth in talent and delivery arising from the transaction,” said Jordaan.

BJM appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers to be the independent advisor in the deal.