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Citigroup, HSBC
The bank completed its sale of retail wealth management in mainland China. HSBC Bank (China), a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC, said it wrapped up the acquisition.

360 ONE WAM
360 ONE WAM, an India-based wealth manager for ultra-high worth clients, agreed to buy all of ET MONEY in a stock swap and cash transaction. 

JTC
The global professional services business headquartered in Jersey bought Cayman-based FFP, which provides specialist fiduciary services to fund, trust and corporate clients. 

UBS
UBS and Founder Securities Co Ltd sold its 85.01 per cent stake in Credit Suisse Securities (China) – or CSS – to Beijing State-owned Asset Management Co. The transaction involved UBS’s 36.01 per cent stake in the Chinese business for a total of $91.4 million, and Founder Securities’ sale of a 49 per cent stake, worth $124 million. Founder Securities is a Chinese securities business which was listed in Shanghai in 2011.

BSAM, UBS
Beijing State-owned Asset Management, or BSAM, reportedly intends to auction off a 33 per cent stake in the joint venture, UBS Securities.

Carlyle, Apex Group
Carlyle’s global credit business and the private credit arm of Goldman Sachs committed more than $1.1 billion into Apex Group, a global financial services provider that is on an expansion drive, which includes making a series of acquisitions. Carlyle and Goldman Sachs committed to Holdco PIK Notes of Apex to continue to support its growth plans, Apex. The new commitment builds on the firms’ continued relationship with Apex, following an initial Preferred Equity Note in 2020 and a follow-on issuance in 2021. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Alliance Witan
Two investment trusts listed in the UK, Alliance Trust and Witan Investment Trust, agreed to merge into a single entity, Alliance Witan, holding net assets of about £5 billion.
London & Capital, Waverton

UK-based wealth manages London & Capital and Waverton Investment Management Group completed their merger deal. The transaction built a business with a total of £19 billion ($24.1 billion) in AuM.

BlackRock
The firm paid for alternative asset management data provider Preqin for £2.55 billion (about $3.2 billion) in cash. The deal combined Preqin’s data and research tools with Aladdin’s workflow capabilities in a unified platform.

Janus Henderson
The firm has obtained all regulatory approvals to buy Tabula Investment Management, a firm operating from London. Tabula provides exchange-traded funds in the European market, and concentrates on fixed income and sustainable investment, with more than $500 million in assets under management and funds listed across 10 European exchanges.

LLB
LLB Group agreed to buy all shares of Zürcher Kantonalbank Österreich AG, a bank with locations in Salzburg and Vienna. The transaction boosts LLB’s business volume by around SFr3 billion. Both parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price, which will be paid in cash.

Fintel
Fintel, the parent company of SimplyBiz and Defaqto and provider of fintech and support services to the UK retail financial sector, completed its acquisition of threesixty from abrdn. The acquisition considered of a gross upfront cash consideration of £14.6 million.

Utmost Group
Utmost Group agreed to buy Lombard International Assurance Holdings Sarl – covering the latter’s European business. As part of the deal, Utmost Group paid £200 million, financed via borrowing. The business was bought from funds run by US-listed Blackstone Group.

GAM Holding
GAM Holding agreed to transfer its management company activities in the UK, Ireland and Luxembourg to Apex Group, the financial services business.

Titan Wealth
Titan Wealth acquired the AHR Group, an international financial planning and wealth management firm headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. AHR advises and manages $2 billion of assets under advice and under management.

Titan Wealth also bought Channel Islands-based Ravenscroft Investments, a wealth management services business.

The firm also bought Independent Wealth Planners (IWP), a provider of financial planning solutions across the UK. The transaction encompassed IWP’s two trading entities (IWP Financial Planning and IWP Investment Management) and about £6.6 billion ($8.3 billion) of client assets, bringing Titan Wealth’s total assets under management to about £35 billion.

Saffery 
Saffery, an accounting and advisory firm, completed the acquisition of AWFM Sport. AWFM Sport, formerly Arena Wealth Partners, has established itself over the last two decades as an advisor for international sportspeople. It provides a range of tax, accounting, compliance and business management services to clients including top ATP-ranked tennis stars and Ryder Cup golf champions.

Evelyn Partners 
Evelyn Partners agreed to buy Haines Watts’ Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle offices. The teams in these locations provide a range of services and solutions to support entrepreneurial, owner-managed businesses. The acquisition brings five partners, nine directors, and over 150 colleagues from Haines Watts into Evelyn Partners’ professional services business.

UBP
Union Bancaire Privée agreed to buy Société Générale Private Banking Suisse and SocGen’s UK and Channel Islands wealth management arm – SG Kleinwort Hambros. The total consideration is for about €900 million ($981 million). Société Générale said that almost €25 billion of assets under management are covered by the agreements, as of the end of December 2023. The consideration included equity; the sale boosted SocGen’s group Common Equity Tier 1 ratio by about 10 basis points. 

Quilter 
UK-based Quilter Financial Planning added four new representative firms to its advice network: Andy Caterer Wealth Management; Fort Veritas Wealth; Dickson & Co Wealth Management, and Crandles & Co.

Centralis Group
Luxembourg-based Centralis Group, a global alternative asset and corporate services provider, acquired Oakford Advisors, an outsourced service provider with locations across the UK. Oakford, which was founded in 2017, provides services focused on alternative fund clients, primarily hedge funds, private equity and real estate structures.

Hargreaves Lansdown
A group of investors including CVC Group, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund and Nordic Capital – a private equity house – have agreed to buy UK investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown for £5.4 billion  ($6.88 billion) in cash.

JTC
JTC announced its proposed acquisition of Buck UK and European Share Plan Administration and Trustee businesses from Arthur J Gallagher, a global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm.

Cambridge Associates
Cambridge Associates agreed to buy SIGLO Capital Advisors, an alternative investment house based in Zurich.

Quilter
UK wealth manager Quilter acquired NuWealth, a fintech business, to enhance its digital capabilities and support customers and advisors more effectively.

Zedra
Zedra, a specialist in active wealth, corporate and global expansion, fund solutions, pensions and incentives, completed its acquisition of Blackstones, with offices across Poland.

Canaccord Genuity
Canada’s Canaccord Genuity said its wealth management business in the UK & Crown Dependencies, aka CGWM UK, agreed to buy the international arm of London-listed Brooks Macdonald Group. Brooks Macdonald Asset Management (International, or BMI, which was founded in 2012, provides investment management, financial planning and fund management services through its offices in Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man. As of 30 June 2024, BMI had £2.3 billion ($3.0 billion) in funds under management and an annual revenue of £19.9 million.

Canaccord paid £28 billion to buy the business, with an added contingent consideration of up to £22.85 million payable on the second anniversary of completion, subject to meeting certain revenue targets.
Canaccord Genuity – through its wealth management business in the UK and Crown Dependencies (CGWM UK) – completed its purchase of Cantab Asset Management, a chartered, independent financial planning business headquartered in Cambridge, UK.

JTC
JTC announced its proposed purchase of Citi Trust, the fiduciary and trust administration services business, from Citigroup.
Brooks Macdonald acquired Norwich-based wealth manager Lucas Fettes Financial Planning. 

Lucas Fettes has about £890 million ($1.176 billion) assets under advice in total, spread across 1,600 personal clients, plus about £300 million in “assets under influence” from more than 300 corporate and employee benefits clients.

Vontobel
Vontobel acquired the client book from fellow Swiss firm IHAG Privatbank, which oversees SFr3 billion ($3.53 billion) of client money. The transaction, for an undisclosed sum, was expected to have an immediate positive impact on Vontobel’s group net profit and will be financed from the firm’s existing capital.

Close Brothers
Close Brothers sold its asset management business to funds run by asset management house Oaktree Capital Management for an equity value of up to £200 million ($266 million). Close Brothers said the equity value of the deal, which included £28 million of contingent deferred consideration in the form of preference shares, represented a multiple of 27 times CBAM's statutory operating profit after tax for the 2024 financial year.

Saltus
Wealth manager Saltus has acquired Tavistock’s financial advice businesses, Tavistock Partners and Tavistock Partners (UK), subject to approval from the regulator, for a total consideration of up to £37.75 million ($49.75 million). The new combined business has assets under advice and management of over £7 billion and more than 300 staff – with this transaction contributing £2.4 billion of assets under advice.

Cazenove
Cazenove Capital, part of UK-based Schroders Wealth Management, completed its purchase of wealth manager, Whitley Asset Management, after receiving regulatory approval.

Lagom Family Advisors
Lagom Family Advisors, a business based in Chiasso, southern Switzerland and founded in 2017, was acquired by Swiss group Ceresio Investors. Ceresio, owned by the Italian-Swiss Foglia family, conducted the transaction through parent firm Banca del Ceresio in Lugano.

ACA Group
ACA Group acquired the Effecta Compliance Group, a regulatory consultancy practice that supports financial services firms throughout the UK and the UAE.

M&G
M&G Real Estate acquired a 65 per cent stake in BauMont Real Estate Capital Limited (BauMont) – a European real estate fund manager specialising in value-add investment strategies in Western Europe. 

Brooks Macdonald
Brooks Macdonald, a wealth management firm, acquired CST Wealth Management, a chartered financial planning firm based in Wales. CST Wealth Management, which has assets under advice of about £170 million ($221 million), has a base of approximately 500 clients. 

Hunters
Hunters Law and Peachey & Co announced their merger to form a strengthened multidisciplinary firm, to be known as Hunters.

LGT
LGT, the Liechtenstein-headquartered group, agreed to buy the personal advice business of Australia’s CBA. The acquired business has more than SFr2.8 billion ($3.18 billion), serves high net worth and ultra-HNW clients, and has about 40 advisors, associates and support staff. 

Succession
Succession Wealth acquired Leeds-based True Wealth Group, a financial planning and wealth management group with £1.1 billion ($1.4 billion) in assets under advice.

Amundi
Amundi, the European wealth management house, bought aixigo, a technology company that has built a modular service offering for distributors of savings solutions, for €149 million ($159.9 million).

Evelyn Partners
Evelyn Partners agreed to sell its professional services business to funds advised by Apax Partners. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2025. The acquired organisation will be rebranded as S&W, building on the heritage of Smith & Williamson which was founded in 1881. The deal will produce two standalone businesses: Evelyn Partners, a UK wealth manager, and S&W, a professional services firm and mid-market accountancy.

BlackRock
BlackRock agreed to buy global credit investment manager HPS Investment Partners, a business with about $148 billion of client assets, for a purchase price of around $12 billion. Blackrock bought HPS entirely with BlackRock equity, exchangeable on a one-for-one basis into BlackRock common stock. 

ZEDRA, which specialises in providing wealth, corporate services and fund services, invested into a French firm RBB Business, which delivers accounting, HR and tax services to domestic and international clients. Following the investment stake, 33 RBB Business staff in Paris and Auray joined ZEDRA, taking the latter firm’s total headcount to more than 1,200 people in 17 countries.