Towergate unveils £100 million war chest to build national IFA

Towergate Financial Services, the advisory arm of insurance broker Towergate Partnership, has raised over £100 million to buy regional IFAs with a view to building a national network.

Towergate planned to make 20 acquisitions by the end of the year, with a target of signing on 370 to 400 registered individuals within three years, a spokesman said.

Towergate would approach firms with a mid to high-net-worth client base on an ‘opportunistic’ basis to build a top 10 IFA firm in competition with the likes of St James’s Place, he said. The business model would be predominantly driven by recurring revenue to ‘sit with future market dynamics’, he added.

The funding came mainly from the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets and Towergate management.

The company said it would support advisers with market leading technology and expert investment research, leveraging its scale and centralised compliance, administration and product expertise.

Some acquired firms would keep their own branding while others would adopt the Towergate banner, the company said.

Patrick Snowball (pictured), chairman of Towergate Financial and former Aviva board director and Norwich Union executive chairman, said the UK personal financial services market had attractive long-term growth prospects. ‘We have assembled a high quality management team which is passionate about building an advisory business to be at the very forefront of this industry.’

Peter Cullum, executive chairman of Towergate Partnership, said he envisioned Towergate Financial being developed as the leading UK personal finance advisory firm. ‘Our culture is based on doing things differently and today we are launching a vision for the future of specialist personal financial services.’

So far this year Towergate Financial has made inroads into the Scottish market, acquiring Albannach Financial Management and MacDonald Reid Scott Financial Services.

Towergate Partnership has completed over 150 acquisitions since establishment in 1997 and currently employs over 4,000 people in 100 offices. It turned over £278 million in 2007.