Quilter Financial Planning has sold the advice arm of the Lighthouse Group.

Lighthouse Carrwood has been sold to MKC Wealth for an undisclosed sum.

Quilter acquired the Lighthouse Group in 2019.

MKC Wealth said it will retain all Lighthouse Carrwood staff which will be re-branded as MKC Wealth.

Stephen Gazard, chief executive of Quilter Financial Planning, said: “As part of Quilter Financial Planning’s integration of Lighthouse into our network and national advice business, we have been carefully exploring the options for Carrwood to ensure the best outcome for clients and employees.

“We are committed to ensuring good client outcomes and we believe MKC Wealth is an excellent home for the business given its focus as an IFA-led advice business.”

The deal completed on 1 November.

MKC wealth management are no strangers to the Quilter business.

In October former Quilter Private Client Advisers employees Dominic Rose and Nigel Speirs purchased what was a London-based IFA firm as part of a strategy to build a wealth management consolidator.

Mr Rose said that the firm wants to expand by a combination of acquisitions and organic growth.

He said: “Carrwood represents a fantastic fit for MKC Wealth and we have welcomed a number of new colleagues to our business who will thrive with us.

“Our focus remains on only making acquisitions where we feel there is a good cultural fit and at a sensible and sustainable pace.

“We have no interest in being the largest firm, what we care about is our team, our clients and being the safe pair of hands to look after clients from retiring advisers which is our principal focus going forward.”

This latest deal is one of a number of sales being made by Quilter as it re-structures its business to shift focus towards high net worth and affluent clients.

The wealth manager and Financial Planner received regulatory approval for the sale of its international business to Utmost Group earlier this month. 

Utmost is expected to complete the £480m deal on 30 November.

Quilter re-structured its business this month, with the firm announcing the reorganisation along with its third quarter results. 

Paul Feeney, CEO of Quilter, said the reorganisation of the firm is part of plans to drive growth and efficiency across the business.

The core proposition will have two arms. The affluent arm will include Quilter Financial Planning, the Quilter platform, and Quilter Investments. The high-net-worth arm will focused on the group’s DFM services. Mr Feeney said this is because these clients value a more bespoke discretionary managed position.

The firm reported third quarter net inflows of £1bn, a big increase from the £0.1bn reported in the same quarter last year.