Private equity-backed wealth manager Hurst Point Group has acquired City-based Financial Planning and wealth management firm Helm Godfrey.
The acquisition will add around £1bn in assets under advice and £0.5bn in assets under management on behalf of 2,500 clients.
It will take Hurst Point’s overall assets under advice to approximately £5bn, and assets under management to a similar number. With approximately £2bn of common assets, this will bring the group’s net assets to approximately £8bn
The deal is subject to regulatory approval.
Helm Godfrey is a London-based Financial Planning and wealth management firm with 65 employees.
The deal will bring Hurst Point its first London office.
Under the terms of the deal Helm Godfrey’s investment management team will join Hurst Point’s investment management division, whilst the Financial Planning team will join its Financial Planning division.
Helm Godfrey will be rebranded to Argentis Group, as Hurst Point looks to bring different parts of its Financial Planning division under one brand.
Hurst Point said there are several more deals in the pipeline for this year.
John White, managing director of Hurst Point’s Financial Planning division, said: “With a reputation for excellence built over more than 20 years, we are delighted that the Helm Godfrey business has agreed to join our Group and become our City of London hub. We have worked closely with Graham Cross, Danby Bloch, and their team over the last year in developing this partnership and are very excited about the opportunities that will arise from working together in the future.
“We are working to build a quality, sustainable financial planning business with a strong group ethos, and have several deals in the pipeline for 2023.
“We believe that we have found a strong cultural fit in partnering with the Helm Godfrey team; that was a key consideration for us. We were attracted to Helm Godfrey largely by its strong presence in a key centre of wealth, the strong reputation of its advisory business, and its integrated investment management operations.”
Jersey-based Hurst Point Group was launched in 2019 to manage investments by private equity firm The Carlyle Group in the UK wealth sector.
Hurst Point has made several acquisitions over the past few years including Hawksmoor Investment Management, Gore Browne Investment Management, Argentis Financial Planning, Metis Wealth, and Metis Asset Management.
The acquisitions were financed through a combination of the equity investment made by Hurst Point and by drawing on a debt facility with Ardian and Investec.
Hurst Point has 13 offices across the UK and when the latest deal completes, will have over 120 financial advisers across the group.
