Towry

Business at time of investment

Palamon originally invested in John Scott & Partners, a small, founder-led IFA, managing around £250 million of clients asset based in Marlow.

Investment rationale

In 2002, Palamon initiated a review of the highly fragmented independent financial advisor (IFA) industry in the United Kingdom, believing that significant changes underway would open up opportunities for the creation of a new national leader. Palamon began a buy-and-build strategy in 2003 with the purchase of John Scott & Partners Ltd, a well-established firm providing financial advice to 3,000 clients. The company was selected because it had successfully developed a new wealth management services model which combined fee-for-service advice with discretionary asset management capability.

Value creation

• Built senior management team: from leading financial services institutions, most recently with the appointment of Rob Devey (ex CEO of Prudential UK and Europe) as CEO in 2014
• Strengthened corporate governance: Appointed a new Chairman, Ron Sandler, in 2014
• Accelerated M&A strategy: 16 additional acquisitions, including;
  • Reverse take-over of Towry Law in 2006
  • Acquisition of UK operations of Edward Jones in December 2009 with £1.5 billion of AuM
  • Acquisition of Baker Tilly Financial Management in April 2014, with £1.5 billion of client assets
  • Acquistiion of Ashcourt Rowan plc in May 2015, with £2.3 billion in discretionary AuM

Company at exit:

In April 2016 Palamon announced that it had agreed the sale of Towry to Tilney Bestinvest for £600 million, subject to regulatory approvals.As a result of its highly successful M&A and organic growth strategy the Towry group had, under Palamon’s ownership, grown revenues from £5 million to more than £120 million and client assets from £250 million to more than £9 billion.