Expanding wealth manager and Financial Planner MKC Wealth has added £90m to its assets under advice by acquiring Buxton-based Crescent Independent and the client base of Bury-based IFA Christine Brearley.

Both are being acquired for undisclosed sums.

Crescent Independent, formerly an appointed representative of the Tenet Group network, has £70m of AUA and advises 188 households.

Christine Brearley was an AR of PI Financial and adds a further £20m AUA and 50 households. 

Dominic Rose, chief executive of MKC Wealth, said: "We have a fairly simple philosophy; our clients trust us to look after their life savings and to plan for their (and their family’s) future. This is a massive responsibility that everyone in our team fully appreciates and passionately cares about.

“Similarly, business owners trust us to look after their clients whom they have supported over many years. Both of these transactions will facilitate the retirements for Steve, David and Christine while ensuring the clients are well cared for."

Steve Penn and David Brookes, who set up Crescent Independent from scratch in 2001 having worked together at Prudential, will join MKC Wealth on a consultancy basis, for an initial six months, to support the handover.

They said: "We built up our business entirely by word of mouth, initially advising private clients and then adding a significant number of corporates. Over the last year we have been planning a smooth succession before we retire.

"We were introduced to numerous prospective buyers and were made lucrative offers, but money was not the main factor in our decision. We could have got a bigger capital sum elsewhere but as MKC Wealth shares our ethos, professionalism and approachability this will ensure that clients will feel comfortable in their relationship with their new Financial Planner.”

Christine Brearley has retired. She said: "I asked Brian Hill of the Exit Partnership, who specialises in selling the firms of retiring advisers. I wanted the best possible fit for my clients and not just sell out to a major national firm, which would have been all too easy. Brian introduced me to the team at MKC Wealth for a smooth and seamless transition."  

The acquisition is MKC Wealth’s eighth of 2023.

In October MKC acquired Wimbledon Chartered Financial Planning firm Holborn Financial for an undisclosed sum. It now has 26 Financial Planners and a total team of 90 across three offices with some £1.5bn of assets under advice. It acquired the advice arm of the troubled Lighthouse group from Quilter in 2021.

MKC Wealth is backed by private equity firm Cabot Square Capital which owns a number of businesses including Key Retirement Solutions.