Wealth manager and professional services provider Evelyn Partners is to acquire three offices and 150 staff from Northern accountancy firm Haines Watts.

Evelyn will acquire Haines Watts’ Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle offices to boost its presence in the North.

The deal will add five partners, nine directors, and more than 150 staff from Haines Watts to Evelyn Partners Professional Services division.

The deal is due to complete tomorrow (Friday 2 August).

Haines Watts is an accountancy firm which also offers wealth planning and private client services as well as tax planning and corporate advice.

Evelyn says the deal will be its sixth professional services acquisition in the last 18 months. In 2023 Evelyn Partners acquired Leathers LLP (Newcastle and Harrogate), Ashcroft Partnership LLP (Cambridge), Creaseys (Tunbridge Wells), Harwood Hutton (Beaconsfield) and an international disputes team for its Forensic Services practice.

The three offices being acquired by Evelyn Partners from Haines mainly provide advice and services to entrepreneurial, owner-managed businesses.

Andrew Wilkes, chief professional services director of Evelyn Partners, said: “We are delighted to welcome the team and clients of these three former Haines Watts offices to Evelyn Partners. The team, led by Donna Bulmer, are high-quality professionals with a long-standing track record of giving clients the best possible tax advice and accountancy solutions.

"Their approach of providing a fully supportive, personal service and building long-standing relationships with clients is very much in line with our culture at Evelyn Partners. This acquisition continues our strategy of expanding the number of business and private clients we provide our professional services to in the north of England.”

Donna Bulmer, managing partner of Haines Watts, said: “This is an exciting time for our clients and our team as we join forces with our new colleagues at Evelyn Partners. We see a great cultural fit that will ensure we continue to deliver high service levels to our clients, whilst creating fantastic opportunities for our team.”

Evelyn Partners is a wealth management and professional services group formed by the merger of Tilney and Smith & Williamson in 2020. It has £61.8bn of assets under management (as at 31 March 2024). It has significant wealth management and accountancy arms and offices in 29 towns and cities in the UK, as well as the Republic of Ireland and the Channel Islands.