Price Bailey sells £150m regional IFA arm to Bellpenny
Bellpenny makes its second financial services acquisition from the accountancy sector in a week
THE regional financial services business of Price Bailey has been sold to Bellpenny.
The deal sees 1,700 of Price Bailey’s active £150m-worth of clients and funds under management move to the national wealth manager and IFA acquirer.
Price Bailey will continue to provide business services to the clients, and also look to grow its high-net worth private client offering.
“Our plan is to invest further in this sector, particularly in our Mayfair and City of London offices whilst Bellpenny look after our regional clients whose needs they are better placed to handle,” said Peter Gillman, managing director at Price Bailey.
The changing regulatory demands of the Retail Distribution Review, which sees financial advisers move to a fee-based system and provide more information about the services they provide, was a catalyst for the firm, Gillman added, alongside the firm’s own development.
“The different needs of high-net worth and individual clients could have seen us dilute [the offering] to both. The RDR has also meant that anyone I financial services has had to look at what they are doing,” Gillman told Accountancy Age.
A continuity of advisers to the regional clients now under Bellpenny is expected.
The deal is the second with an accountancy firm in a week for Bellpenny. It acquired the IFA arm of Tunbridge Wells-based firm Foot Davson.