Clifton Asset Management has completed the acquisition of Leonard Gold Financial Management, a Portsmouth-based advice firm.
The acquisition was first set in motion in September 2019 following and introduction from Gunner & Co. Since then, Leonard Fold’s clients have been transitioning to Clifton, ahead of Leonard Gold principal Nas Khan’s retirement.
Mr Khan said:
“It has been a pleasure working with Clifton over the past two years to ensure a seamless transition to their service, and I can now leave the business knowing that all of our clients are in very experienced hands.”
Gwill Evans, one of Gunner and co’s Senior Brokers who first introduced the parties in 2019 said:
“It is a pleasure to see the acquisition of Leonard gold to Clifton Asset Management go through after the two year partnership. Both firms had a clear synergy from the start and Nas and the team at Leonard Gold were quick to see the advantages that Clifton were able to offer to each client, through their in house technology and strength of proposition.
Now that Nas has been able to successfully transition the business and clients into Clifton he can look forward to his retirement, which is a great outcome for all. Clifton Asset Management is an acquirer that we expect to see making a number of new acquisitions in the coming years and we are pleased to have been able to support their growth with this deal.”
Anthony Carty, Clifton’s group financial planning director, also commented:
“There have been many benefits of working with Leonard Gold as an AR firm, with clients not only becoming accustomed to our leading systems and processes, but it has also allowed us to work very closely with Nas on the transition of all clients to their new adviser.”
The acquisition of Leonard Gold is just one part of a wider plan for Clifton AM to build a regional network and reach £1bn AUM within five years. There are currently two firms in the acquisition pipeline, at the due diligence level, with another two expected to complete before the end of the year.
Mr Carty said:
“We’ve got another six going through various stages in the process and we would anticipate to complete four by the end of the year, or early next year. That’s the plan and if we assume that we complete four by the year’s end, we would expect to complete another four or five during the course of 2022.
“Our current AUM is £600m, these four that will go through will double that and take us to £1.3bn and then we’d expect at the end of next year to get to somewhere in the region of £2bn with those further acquisitions. It’s a reasonably dramatic increase.”
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