Wealth manager Towry has been sold by private capital firm Palamon to Tilney Bestinvest for £600 million in a deal which creates one of the UK’s biggest wealth management businesses.

The combined business will have over 240 financial planners and 120 investment managers who will operate from more than 30 offices across the UK providing national coverage.

Towry has itself grown rapidly to become one of the UK’s fastest growing wealth managers with more than £9 billion of client assets, 85% of which are managed under discretionary investment mandates. It employs more than 900 staff across 21 regional offices and offers investment management alongside Financial Planning. Palamon says the combination of Towry and Tilney Bestinvest will create a leading UK wealth management firm for affluent and high net worth clients.

Peter Hall, chief executive of Tilney Bestinvest, said: “This is a transformational deal that will position the combined group as one of the leading UK wealth management firms providing both financial planning and investment management services. The combination of Towry and Tilney Bestinvest is compelling because both firms share a culture of aiming to provide the very highest levels of professional and personal client service.”

Palamon says the deal will result in total investment returns for Palamon of 13 times invested capital. It originally acquired John Scott & Partners, a founder-led wealth manager with £250 million in Assets Under Management in 2003. It says it identified the potential to build a national leader in the “highly fragmented financial advisory sector.” John Scott & Partners was acquired by Palamon in an off-market transaction and selected because it had a distinctive model of charging clients on a fee-for-advice basis, combined with a discretionary asset management service. Palamon led a buy-and-build strategy to roll out the John Scott model, which included the reverse take-over of Towry Law in 2006 and the acquisition of the UK subsidiary of Edward Jones in 2009, among others.

Palamon says the RDR spurred on the growth of the John Scott fee-charging model used by most Financial Planners and provided opportunities for acquisition. Towry went on to complete a further six acquisitions including the take-private of Ashcourt Rowan plc in 2015, with £2.3 billion of discretionary assets under management. Towry group has, under Palamon’s ownership, grown revenues from £5 million to more than £120 million and client assets from £250 million to more than £9 billion.

Daan Knottenbelt, partner at Palamon, said, “It has been a tremendous experience to have executed a transformational growth strategy that saw Towry develop from a single office in Marlow with £5 million of revenue to become a leading national wealth manager with £120 million of revenue and more than £9 billion of client assets.”

Rob Devey, CEO at Towry, said: “Towry and Tilney Bestinvest are an excellent fit with both firms having highly skilled teams that provide top quality Financial Planning and investment management services to clients. Moving forwards the combined business will be able to offer an even wider range of services for clients and career opportunities for employees in all parts of the UK.”

Palamon Capital Partners, LP is an independent private equity Partnership founded in 1999, which is focused on providing equity for European growth services companies. Palamon, as a pan-European investor, originates, executes and manages investments in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Norway, and Sweden.

Towry employs approximately 900 people in a network of offices across the United Kingdom with £9.1 billion of client assets under discretion or advice as of June 2015.