Growing wealth manager and Financial Planner Kingswood has acquired Sheffield-based IFA business WFI Financial LLP for £14m.

WFI has £550m in assets under advice and offices in Derby, Lincoln and Grimsby as well as Sheffield.

Kingswood, which employs many Certified and Chartered Financial Planners, says the deal will continue its expansion in the Midlands and the North.

Kingswood will acquire the WFI book of business for a maximum cash sum of £14m, payable over a 30-month period subject to pre-agreed targets being hit.

In the most recent financial year to June, WFI generated EBITDA of £1.8m and Kingswood described the firm as "very profitable."

WFI manages over £550m in assets for 970 family clients. It has 37 partners and employees, including 16 IFAs and 19 support staff.

WFI has itself expanded in recent years through its own Centralised Investment Proposition and the acquisition of client banks from retiring IFAs.

On completion of the takeover, the enlarged group will have 5,500 active clients and AUA of £2.5 billion.

Kingswood has plans to invest further and is talking to a provider of “growth capital” about investment in its business to help fund acquisitions both in the UK and overseas.

Gary Wilder, group CEO at Kingswood, said: “The acquisition of WFI doubles the size of our wealth planning business and provides Kingswood with an opportunity to own a very profitable regional Financial Planning business with built-in expertise and capacity to expand.

“Both principals, Charlie Gillespie and Mark Rendall, are exceptional individuals with great track records in the industry and they will remain with the group post integration and assume expanded roles on the Kingswood platform.

“There is also a major opportunity to migrate existing and new clients across to Kingwood’s DFM platform, especially onto our recently re-launched Managed Portfolio Service  offering, underpinning the value of a fully integrated wealth management business.”