Curtis Banks is to acquire rival self-invested pension provider Talbot and Muir and fintech business Dunstan Thomas in separate multi-million pound deals.
The total consideration for Talbot and Muir is up to £25.25m. The total consideration for Dunstan Thomas is up to £27.5m.
The self-invested personal pension (SIPP) and small self-administered scheme (SSAS) provider said the deals, which had been in the pipeline before the Covid-19 crisis, were a “significant step” in its growth plans.
Talbot and Muir, an independent SIPP and SSAS provider, has 75 staff with offices in Nottingham and Leeds. Its administers more than 7,000 pensions with assets under administration of about £3.4bn.
Curtis Banks said the businesses shared and “common cultural and structural alignment”.
Curtis Banks chief executive Will Self (pictured) said: “We continue to look for the right types of business to grow Curtis Banks in the right way. We identified Talbot and Muir as a good strategic fit and are pleased to have agreed terms to bring them into the Curtis Banks group, further consolidating our market position as one of the largest UK providers of SIPPs and SSAS.”
Talbot and Muir director Graham Muir founded the business in 1993 with Brian Talbot.
On the sale, Muir said: “To continue to grow and develop the business we felt the time was right to look for a partner that was a strategic fit and has the same values as we do.
“We have been considering a number of strategic opportunities and it became clear that Curtis Banks offered the ideal combination of safeguarding and providing opportunities for our valued staff, while retaining our Nottingham and Leeds presence and product range.”
Technology provider
Dunstan Thomas is a fintech provider specialising in business solutions for wealth managers, platforms and providers. It already worked with Curtis Banks on its secure portal and also boasts Seven Investment Management, Aegon and Novia as clients.
Dunstan Thomas chief executive Chris Read said the firm had been independent for 34 years but now was the right time to join Curtis Banks.
He said: “We believe it is the right time to join forces to create a new larger entity in the market with new propositions to take advantage of the changing shape of the commercial and economic landscape. We are keen to assure all our clients, that we are committed to delivering further capability in our products for the whole market to benefit from.”
Self said technology was “under-utilised” in the independent SIPP market.
“We recently invested in a new digital platform, underpinning the launch of Your Future SIPP, and by also bringing Dunstan Thomas into our group we’ll gain direct access to great technology to benefit our customers as well as fulfilling our diversified growth strategy,” he explained.
Self added: “Dunstan Thomas is a leading fintech provider, and as our largest supplier we’ve worked with them for many years now.
“We see them as a core enabler for our future growth, delivering solutions that support advisers and their high net worth and mass affluent clients, both within our current market and more broadly to other associated markets while growing the support and solutions to other financial services providers.”