Expanding Chartered Financial Planner Skerritts Group has hired former Quilter CEO Paul Feeney as its new group CEO.

Mr Feeney will take up his new role from 2 May subject to regulatory approval.

Skerrits founder Richard Skerritt will remain on the board as a non-executive director.

Brighton and Hove-based Skerritts has expanded rapidly in recent years and made numerous acquisitions.

In March it acquired Horsham-based Financial Planner Mercier Allen & Associates. In 2022, Skerritts completed four acquisitions, adding new offices in Kent, Hampshire and London and about £560 million of AUM. In January this year, Skerritts acquired Kent-based Financial Planning Firm, Equinox Wealth Limited, which brought another £62 million of AUM.

Skerritts has a head office in Brighton and Hove with about 50 staff serving 35,000 clients. In March 2021, UK private equity firm Sovereign Capital Partners invested £55m in Skerritts to fuel expansion.

Mr Feeney is the the former CEO of Quilter, a FTSE 250 wealth manager with over £100bn in assets under management. He spent 10 years building up the firm, now one of the UK’s biggest wealth managers.

Prior to Quilter, Mr Feeney held senior roles in the wealth and asset management sector, including as group managing director of Gartmore Investment Management, and chief executive of NatWest Private Bank.

Skerritts offers clients an integrated advice and investment management service and is planning new digital services in the near future. It is also seeking further acquisitions and to increase its regional coverage which is presently focused mainly on the South. It plans to roll out its “buy & build” acquisition strategy, it says.

Richard Skerritt, founder of Skerritts, said: “I am immensely proud of Skerritts and what we have created over the last 30 years. The business provides clients with a holistic wealth management offering, and following Sovereign’s investment in early 2021, we have further invested in our capabilities.

“The technology roadmap for the next 18 months is very exciting. Paul’s significant sector experience will allow the group to reach its full potential and I look forward to supporting the business and Paul as a continuing board member and non-executive director.”

Andrew Fisher, non-executive chairman of Skerritts, said: “Paul is an outstanding CEO and business leader. Having worked with Paul previously, I am very excited that he has agreed to join Skerritts to take it to the next stage in its development. Richard has built a great platform and now with Paul at the helm we have the opportunity to create a leading business in the wealth management sector.”

Mr Feeney said: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with Andrew again and also now Richard, two of the most successful entrepreneurs in the wealth management market. Skerritts has all the right building blocks and, importantly, the right values to become one of the leading wealth management businesses in this country, and with the continued backing of Sovereign Capital, that’s exactly what we are going to create.”