Brooks Macdonald acquires £170m AUM Cardiff Planner

Wealth manager and SIPP and investment provider Brooks Macdonald has acquired Welsh Chartered Financial Planning firm CST Wealth Management for an undisclosed sum. The deal adds £170m in assets under advice and around 500 clients to Brooks Macdonald. The acquisition of the Cardiff firm also adds to Brooks Macdonald's growing offering in Wales. It said CST represents a strategic and cultural fit to expand client reach and accelerate growth in Financial Planning. The move follows the recent £45m acquisition of £1.61bn AUM Manchster-based LIFT-Financial in October and £1.19bn AUM Norwich-based Lucas Fettes Financial Planning in September. Both deals are subject to regulatory approval which the firm hopes to receive by the first quarter of 2025. Andrea Montague, chief executive of Brooks Macdonald, said: "CST Wealth Management is well known to our Cardiff team for their excellent client service. We increase our offering in Wales and grow our presence in Financial Planning, aligned with our strategy to reignite growth." Gwyn Williams, director of CST Wealth Management, said: "Brooks Macdonald has a great reputation and shares many of the values that have driven our success to date. We look forward to becoming part of the BM team and to the benefits it will bring to our clients." Brooks Macdonald Group was founded in 1991, began trading on AIM in 2005. It had discretionary FUM of £17.9bn as of 30 September. The business has been striving to recover after being hit by net outflows last year and cutting 10% of staff. Last Autumn Brooks Macdonald announced that it would reduce its headcount to cut costs annually by £4m. The firm axed around 55 jobs, about 10% of its workforce, as part of the cost-saving measures. Brooks Macdonald said the cuts from its 512-strong workforce were designed to ensure it is, “set up for success, organised to deliver its strategy and drive growth.” In September it sold its £2.3bn FUM international arm to wealth manager Canaccord Genuity Wealth (International) Holdings Limited for £50.85m. The firm's results for the year ended June revealed a 7% rise in funds under management to £18bn and a 12.5% rise in pre-tax profit to £34.1m. Last month it reported net outflows of £0.1bn for its first quarter ended 30 September. The net outflows represented 0.7% of funds under management.

Brooks Macdonald acquires £170m AUM Cardiff Planner

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