Newton to keep £3.6bn charity arm post SLW deal

Newton is to keep the lion's share of its multi-billion pound charity business following the acquisition of its private client arm by Standard Life Wealth.

After the news Standard Life Wealth is to acquire Newton's private client division, which manages £3.6 billion in assets, Newton chief executive Helena Morrissey has confirmed the bulk of the firm's established charity investment management hub will remain with the company. 

Meanwhile, Standard Life Wealth is set to take on a range of 11-strong funds which are predominantly invested in by Newton's private clients, including the Newton Balanced Bridge and Newton Phoenix funds alongside a number of family oeics, as part of the £83.5 million deal.

Assets in this range equate to around £800 million, while Standard Life Wealth will also acquire the Newton Offshore seven-strong fund range  which totals £200 million.

Standard Life Wealth chief Richard Charnock said the firm plans to keep the range unchanged following the deal and added most of the investment managers will continue to run the funds.

'We don't need to change anything. We have got the expertise, great people and much more depth on the investment side,' he said.

Charnock is particularly positive about the prospect of gaining an international client base and a new office in Leeds, and touched on the charity money coming over from Newton in an interview with Wealth Manager.

Morrissey (pictured) said Newton's charity business currently manages £4 billion and around £400 million of this is set to go to Standard Life Wealth as part of the deal.

'After the deal we will have £3.6 billion of charity monies. Around £400 million in charity assets will be transferred as part of the deal. These are charity relationships that are managed by the Edinburgh and Leeds offices, as we are not going to have a Leeds office and will only have operations staff in Edinburgh [after the deal],' she explained.

Morrissey added the charity team, headed by Andrew Pitt, still remains a big growth area for Newton looking ahead. 'We are hugely committed to the charity area.'

She said the deal had been motivated by a desire to streamline the business and focus on core activities and views Standard Life Wealth fit as a good fit for Newton's private client division.