EXPERIENCE SHARED
Brown Shipley acquires Gillespie Macandrew's investment arm
Blas Deals
26th September 2011
Private Bank Brown Shipley has added to its growing Edinburgh presence with the acquisition of the investment management operation of leading Scottish law firm Gillespie Macandrew.
Charles Fotheringham, who heads the Gillespie Macandrew investment team, will join Brown Shipley as a Private Client Director on completion of the deal. The existing team of investment managers Robert Hunter and Colin Robertson together with Keith Barron, who provides financial planning advice, are also moving to Brown Shipley and will ensure a smooth transition for clients transferring their investments.
Brown Shipley established its Edinburgh office in 2008 and following the acquisition will manage over £250m of funds from Edinburgh. Services are designed to help private clients hold on to their wealth, grow it and keep it in the family.
In addition to investment management, Brown Shipley provides high net worth clients with pensions and lifetime financial advice as well as private banking facilities.
Ian Sackfield, Brown Shipley’s Managing Director, said the bank has begun looking for a new office and expects to recruit locally to support the new investment team.
He said: "With Charles Fotheringham and his team joining us, we have significantly strengthened our presence in Scotland. Our research shows clients want their wealth well managed and appreciate continuity and a direct relationship with their trusted investment manager. Gillespie Macandrew clients will experience this as well as the additional benefits of being looked after by a prestigious private bank with two centuries of history in delivering first-class client service."
Ian Turnbull, Gillespie Macandrew’s Managing Partner, said: "The regulatory burden has grown significantly in recent years and is set to increase further, making it increasingly difficult for a firm of our size to offer clients the level of service in relation to investment matters that we would like to provide. In light of this we felt our clients were best served being part of a larger organisation where investment management is at the core and which has the resources available to invest in world-class investment research.
"We chose Brown Shipley because it offers all of this as well as the highly personal level of service our clients have come to depend on.
"This development means we can concentrate on further developing our core business as a leading law firm focused on our key areas of private client, land and rural business, property, and services for businesses and charities."
It is anticipated that the effective date of transfer will be 1 December 2011. The move is subject to approval from the Financial Services Authority. The lead adviser was Edinburgh-based Blas Limited.
Brown Shipley is an established private bank and celebrated its bicentenary during 2010. It looks after more than £2.5 billion of investments for its clients and in addition to Edinburgh, also has offices in London, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham.