Brooks Macdonald Funds, part of UK-based Brooks Macdonald Group, has named Mark Watson as new business development manager.

Based in London, Watson is charged with developing key relationships with IFAs, discretionary fund managers and other industry professionals to promote the firm’s fund proposition, Brooks Macdonald said in a statement.

Watson latterly served as an executive account consultant at Zurich Assurance Company, working with IFA firms in London. In his prior career he spent three years in the Middle East, establishing relationships with institutional clients, private banks and wealth management platforms.

In other recent news at the group, last month Brooks Macdonald Asset Management signed an agreement to buy the investment management operations of UK law firm Clarke Willmott for an initial sum of £1.56 million (around $2.53 million).

Clarke Willmott, which has around £120 million of discretionary client funds, is based in Taunton, Somerset, in the southwest region of the UK. It employs eight staff. The transaction is intended to complete on 31 October.

Under the terms of the deal, an additional consideration, also payable in cash, will be paid in two tranches 12 and 24 months after completion of the deal. The sum - including the initial payment of £1.56 million - will be based on a maximum of 3.25 per cent in total of the relevant discretionary funds under management, split across the respective payment dates. The total payment will be capped at £6 million.

The activities will be integrated into and rebranded as Brooks Macdonald Asset Management.