Nucleus’ acquisition of Third Financial was the biggest advisory industry deal by assets under management (AUM) last year, Professional Adviser data revealed.
As we get further into the new year, PA looked back at the data gathered from our 2024 acquisitions list, where we kept up the date with the latest mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals in the advice space.
Nucleus and Third Financial – £6bn
The chart showed that Nucleus' £6bn deal with fellow platform Third Financial topped the AUM table.
Nucleus snapped up Third Financial back in February 2024, bringing more than 50 clients to the platform.
M&A specialist Catalyst Partners partner Roderic Rennison told Professional Adviser that the deal will have enhanced Nucleus's position as a platform player with "significant breadth and depth" to its overall capability.
Through the acquisition, Nucleus hoped to extend the platform solutions it offers advice firms and benefit from Third Financial's technology, enabling an ‘adviser-as-a-platform' proposition for larger businesses who want to offer their own platform. It was expected to take Nucleus' platform assets under advice (AUA) to about £90bn.
Nucleus CEO Richard Rowney said when announcing the deal: "This acquisition significantly expands Nucleus's capability in the ‘adviser-as-a-platform' space.
"It's now the only large-scale platform group with a comprehensive range of bespoke platform solutions for advice and wealth management firms of all shapes and sizes."
Saltus and Tavistock - £2.4bn
In October 2024, Tavistock inked a deal to sell two advice businesses to Saltus for up to £37.75m.
Tavistock Partners and Tavistock Estate Planning Services were both sold to Saltus as part of the transaction.
Collectively, both businesses added £2.4bn of AUA to Saltus.
Succession Wealth and True Wealth Group - £1.1bn
Succession Wealth marked its fifth acquisition under Aviva ownership in November with its purchase of True Wealth Group, a financial planning and wealth management firm with £1.1bn in assets under advice.
Independently owned and managed, True Wealth Group is headquartered in Leeds but operates in five offices across the UK, including in Belfast, which represented Succession Wealth's first entry into Northern Ireland.
As its third acquisition made in 2024, this buy followed Succession Wealth's purchases of DFP Health & Wealth Management and London Wall Partners. The three acquisitions brought in £2.2bn of client assets.
Mattioli Woods and Cullen Wealth - exceeding £1bn
Professional Adviser revealed that wealth manager Mattioli Woods acquired Stockport-based Cullen Wealth in November 2024.
Companies House filings showed that the wealth manager took a significant stake of 75% or more in Cullen Wealth's holding company.
Cullen Wealth has more than 3,000 clients and funds under management (FUM) exceeding £1bn, making it one of the largest independently-owned advice firms in the UK. It hit £1bn FUM in 2019.
Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management and Cantab Asset Management - £900m
Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management's acquisition of Cantab Asset Management (Cantab) through its wealth management business in the UK and Crown Dependencies - CGWM UK – brought in approximately £900m in AUM.
Headquartered in Cambridge, Cantab is a Chartered independent financial planning business and serves high-net-worth private clients and charities.
This acquisition by Canaccord came after it snapped up financial planning firm Intelligent Capital in November 2023.
On this deal, Rennison said that Canccord's acquisition of Cantab appears to be a continuation of its strategy of acquiring financial planning businesses of scale.
"It will also provide a usual regional presence if Cannacord choose to expand in the region," he noted.
Succession Wealth and London Wall Partners - £900m
With another big buy, Succession Wealth's acquisition of London Wall Partners also brought in £900m in AUM.
London Wall Partners is a London-based IFA firm that provides independent advice to City professionals, entrepreneurs, executives and family estates.
This marked Succession Wealth's fourth acquisition under Aviva ownership and its second in 2024.
Rennison noted that True Wealth and London Wall Partners are both "quality scale" intermediaries and these acquisitions may be the beginning of a shift by Succession to seeking fewer but larger transactions which is "arguably a more focused uses of resources".
Brooks Macdonald and Lucas Fettes - £890m
Finally, Brooks Macdonald's buy of Norwich-based Lucas Fettes added about £890m in AUA to the wealth manager.
Lucas Fettes was said to have seen "significant" AUA growth in the last five years, Brooks Macdonald stated in the press release.
The firm was then integrated into Brooks Macdonald's direct wealth business.
Brooks Macdonald has now made three acquisitions in rapid succession, Rennison said, the other two being CST Wealth, and Lift Financial.
The M&A specialist said that all firms have been strong supporters of Brooks Macdonald's discretionary fund management/model portfolio propositions.
"This is likely to have been an influencing factor," Rennison said.
This type of acquisition appears to be an area of focus by recently appointed CEO Andrea Montague who took over from Andrew Shepherd in October 2024.
Last year was a busy year for consolidators, with around 70 deals taking place within the advice space.
As we go into 2025, with consolidation on the rise and the Financial Conduct Authority's review due, keep up to date with all the latest deals here on Professional Adviser.
