M&A

Wealth management group and consolidator Succession has acquired LRH Wealth Management for £3m and outlined plans to buy a further nine firms this year.

A legal firm, which recently launched as part of the St James's Place (SJP) network, has bought two financial services firms, fueling its plans to reach £500m of assets under management (AUM) in five years.

Former president of the Institute of Financial Planning (IFP) Julie Lord has been appointed as senior client partner at Towry.

Support services provider Simplybiz has seen a 10% increase in profits in the first year post-Retail Distribution Review (RDR) while 2% of its members have left the industry.

IFA and wealth manager Gemini Wealth Management has acquired the pension and investment business from a fellow advisory firm after it shut up shop due to the "increasing costs" put on small firms.

Wealth management group and consolidator Succession has acquired two of its member IFA firms for £3m, as it seeks to reach £7bn of assets by 2017.

Two advice firms have joined wealth management group and consolidation vehicle Succession Advisory Services, bringing £80m to the firm's funds under management.

IFA and discretionary wealth manager AFH Financial Group has acquired Norwich-based independent financial advice firm Omega Consulting in its second deal of the year.

Adviser support services group SimplyBiz has acquired estate planning and will writing business APS Legal & Associates and its subsidiaries Simply Legal & Associates and Assured Probate Services.

GlaxoSmithKline, the UK's largest pharmaceutical group, has agreed to sell one of its businesses to rival Novartis, in a deal which will see it return billions of pounds to shareholders.