The Socium Group has acquired the Beaufort Group with part of its £160m war chest to acquire Financial Planning businesses across the UK.

The network has acquired the Beaufort Group, bringing £1.1bn in assets under management to Socium.

Socium is headed by Mary-Anne McIntyre, the former CEO of IFA network Openwork.

Derrick Dunne, chief executive of Beaufort Financial, said: “Socium shares our belief in high-quality, adviser-led financial advice, so we are delighted to be working with Mary-Anne and her team on further enhancing what we have to offer and building one of the leading financial advice firms in the UK.”

The private equity backed adviser network was launched last year and is looking to take a majority stake in financial advice businesses from across the UK. It plans to build 15 to 20 regional hubs, with eight acquisitions expected by the end of 2020.

The network is backed by private equity firm Penta Capital who said they see the opportunity to consolidation amongst the UK financial advice market.

The private equity firm said: “Penta Capital have backed Mary-Anne McIntyre, the former CEO of Openwork, the largest IFA network in the UK, to carry out a buy and build in the UK independent Financial Advice market.

“The market is the least consolidated of all financial services and has the advantage of being a market where the customer is underserved. The plan is to create a national network by deploying £60m in equity out of total funding in excess of £160m to acquire IFA businesses across the UK.

“The aim is to create a best in class advice business, providing superior service and value for money for the customer, with significant central support allowing the acquired businesses to focus on customer needs.”