I started my career in financial advice some 35 years ago and have been running our firm with my wife Joanna for the last 20 years as a family business.  We still advise clients that we first met three decades ago. 

All this time we have dedicated our professional lives to putting these clients first, followed by our colleagues.

In fact we have run the firm on a collegiate basis which clients really appreciate – they know that they can speak to any member of the team and the service will be first class. We have trained up our own advisers and Paraplanners, too and very much believe in a fully staffed office.

Around five years ago we started thinking about succession. It was more disaster planning, in fact. “What would happen if I fell off the perch too soon? Who would manage the business and continue to oversee it?” We considered our options and put out feelers and met a number of prospective suitors.

What struck me hardest, and became apparent as we came close to selling out on four or five occasions, was the low level integrity and utter ruthlessness in the market. We got as far as the due diligence stage at least four times and as the deal progressed purchasers would try to change the deal on some strange assumption that by this point in the process you would be emotionally hooked and incapable of resisting. 

Crucially for us, we wanted to retain the MKC Wealth name and the City office, our clients and staff promises and our investment philosophy.  On one occasion we discovered at an advanced stage that our buyers had no money and were desperately searching for backers that we were told had been in place all along.

It became evident that there were many asset strippers out there. That didn’t fit at all with our John Lewis-style partnership ambitions.

Finally we met with Nigel Speirs and Dominic Rose, through a mutual lawyer friend. We felt that they saw what was so special in MKC Wealth – it was not just another client bank to be plundered and dare I say it, Dom and Nigel had seen that perhaps there was an opportunity to build something different and special when compared to previous experiences.

They had private equity backers in place. We learnt that they had very carefully selected Cabot Square Capital after beauty parades of potential investors. One of the Cabot Square Capital directors sits as a non-executive director on our board and he is a genuinely honest and likeable person, who contributes valuably. Working closely with Dom and Nigel over the last six or so months one realises that we are all trying to do the right thing.

We are learning together and we feel that this deal that we have put together has not been done before. All members of staff are not only stakeholders, but also shareholders in MKC Wealth, through an employee benefit trust (EBT).

Executive remuneration is based on what our clients think of the service and the performance of team members. But our development is not chiselled in stone. I’m not retiring and heading off into the sunset just yet and the course of the next few months and years ahead are not prescribed.  

Clearly, our backers will want a return on their investment, but it will not follow the consolidators’ short term model. Our backers are in this for the longer term as we continue to build our business and acquire the businesses of like minded professionals. 

Barry Cunningham is client director at MKC Wealth, a boutique independent wealth manager based in London

With an honours degree in building administration, Barry Cunningham worked in construction site management, before joining JCB as a branch manager before the age of 25. He changed career to financial services, joining Zurich in the City, before establishing MKC Wealth in 2003. Following the sale of the firm, he took on the role of client director. He holds CII Level 4 Diploma and Investment Manager and is qualified as an advanced pensions specialist. In his spare time, he is a qualified offshore yacht master and Level 5 off-piste skier.