3i, the global private equity and venture capital company, has acquired independent investment managers and financial adviser Bestinvest. The terms of the acquisition are not disclosed.
Bestinvest, founded in 1986 by majority shareholder John Spiers, is one of the country’s most successful financial advisory companies and currently looks after client assets exceeding £3.7 billion. The company pioneered the concept of providing investment advice with discounted investment charges and is still only one of a handful of companies to offer such a service.
Bestinvest’s high net worth discretionary investment management service, launched in June 2003, now has £1 billion of client assets and the company has a successful fee-based financial planning service.
John Spiers , Bestinvest founder, comments:
“After much careful thought I’ve decided that this would be an appropriate time for my family and me to sell a large part of our shareholding in Bestinvest. While I believe the opportunities for Bestinvest are greater than ever, it makes little sense for so much of the share capital to be owned by a largely passive shareholder who is becoming more interested in capital preservation than future growth."
"My decision to accept a bid from 3i was heavily influenced by the respect for our culture of independence and willingness to back our existing management team. 3i clearly understands the wealth management sector and our business and therefore quickly became the most obvious partner for Bestinvest. Selling to a product provider was never a realistic option.”
Andrew Barnes, Bestinvest Chief Executive Officer, will continue to lead the existing management team moving forwards.
Peter Gordon, 3i Partner and Head of Financial Services comments:
“We believe Bestinvest offers one of the most exciting opportunities in the UK financial services sector. The company is one of few financial advisers with a profitable, robust and scalable business model. Bestinvest has a high quality and loyal client base along with an excellent brand and reputation."
“It will be strictly business as usual for both Bestinvest clients and staff. We plan to enhance rather than significantly change a winning formula.”
The shareholders of Bestinvest were advised by KPMG Corporate Finance.
23 July 2007