Wealth manager and Financial Planner Brooks Macdonald has completed its acquisition of Chartered Financial Planners LIFT-Financial Group Limited and LIFT-Invest for £45m.

The deal was first announced in October but remained subject to regulatory approval.

The acquisition adds an additional £1.6bn assets under advice (AUA) and around 1,350 clients to Brooks Macdonald's Financial Planning business, which has AUA of £6.4bn, of which £2.4bn is FUM. It also has around 90 advisers and Paraplanners.

As part of the takeover, LIFT founder Michael Holden will take up a newly-created role of chief executive of Financial Planning for the combined business.

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Andrea Montague, chief executive of Brooks Macdonald, said: “Michael Holden, one of the two founders of LIFT, has taken the newly-created role of chief executive of Financial Planning. Mike's strong client and high performance focus will further drive our strategy to reignite growth."

Michael Holden said: "I'm excited to lead the Financial Planning business. Building a solid, Chartered business and investing in the next generation through initiatives like the Adviser Academy has always been a passion of mine."      

LIFT is headquartered in Greater Manchester, with offices in London and Edinburgh. Its revenue last year was £11.3m and profits were £2.5m.

Brooks Macdonald Group was founded in 1991 and provides wealth management services in the UK. The group began trading on AIM in 2005 and had discretionary FUM of £18bn as of 30 June.

Last month Brooks Macdonald said it is planning to move its share listing from AIM to the London Stock Exchange main market.

Today it revealed a share buy-back. It bought 4,000 of its ordinary shares at a volume weighted average price of 1,448.75 pence per share on Friday. The purchased shares will be cancelled, it said.

In Autumn 2023 Brooks Macdonald announced that it would reduce its headcount to cut costs annually by £4m. The firm axed around 55 jobs, about 10% of its workforce, as part of the cost-saving measures. It said the cuts were designed to ensure it is, “set up for success, organised to deliver its strategy and drive growth.”

Last September it acquired acquired Norwich-based Lucas Fettes Financial Planning for an undisclosed amount.

In September it also sold its £2.3bn FUM international arm to wealth manager Canaccord Genuity Wealth (International) Holdings Limited for £50.85m.

The firm's results for the year ended June revealed a 7% rise in funds under management to £18bn and a 12.5% rise in pre-tax profit to £34.1m.