Mazars, the professional services firm, is to acquire Chartered Financial Planning business RCL Consultancy Limited from retirement solutions provider The Embark Group.

At the same time, Mazars will also enter into a joint venture partnership with The Embark Group which will mean combining their current activities in the UK employee benefits consulting sector into a single business.

The acquisition of RCL is for an undisclosed and will result in the transfer of a portfolio of high net worth and affluent clients with assets of approximately £300m, pushing Mazars over £1 billion in assets under management. MFP currently has £770 million of assets under management

Mazars, which has a well established Financial Planning arm in the UK, says it plans to continue expanding its Financial Planning “presence and capabilities” here and says the acquisition of RCL by Mazars Financial Planning will strengthen the offering to its private clients.

In the UK, Mazars has 140 partners in total and over 1,700 employees. Embark Group is active across SSAS, SIPP, investment wrap, fund research, employee benefits consulting and Chartered Financial Planning.

MFP provides tailored Financial Planning advice and wealth management to individuals, business owner-managers and trustees.

As a result of the double deal, Mazars Employee Benefits Limited will be renamed Vested Employee Benefits Limited and trade as ‘Vested’. Vested will act as a consolidation vehicle for the clients of each business.

Vested will offer a full suite including traditional flexible benefits and auto-enrolment as well as workplace savings, financial wellness and employee engagement. It says where possible solutions will be digitally delivered.

The target market will be small and medium sized UK corporates with 100 to 750 employees and where small EBCs do not have the resources of Mazars and Embark.

The newly combined employee benefits business will be owned 51% by Embark and 49% by Mazars and will be consolidated into The Embark Group. The joint venture will be led by Lorraine Olley of Mazars and Phil Smith of Embark.

Phil Verity, senior partner at Mazars UK LLP, said: “The combination of these transactions continues our rapid growth in the UK Financial Planning market, a core sector for Mazars in the UK and through Vested we will retain our engagement in the EBC market in a collaboration that greatly increases our chance of material success. Embark and Mazars are a natural fit.”

Phil Smith, group chief executive of Embark, said: “It is tremendous to be taking the covers off the growing partnership we have nurtured with Mazars over the course of 2017.

“I thank RCL Consultancy for its contribution to our group, but pass the business to Mazars knowing the investment in their growth will take a much greater priority than we are able to deliver today.”

Both transactions are subject to regulatory approval.