Hurst Point buys Helm Godfrey adding £1.5 billion in managed assets

Specialist financial planning and investment management services firm Helm Godfrey is to be acquired by Hurst Point Group, a leading UK wealth management business with the support of law firm, Shakespeare Martineau.

The acquisition, which is subject to FCA approval, will add around £1bn in assets under advice and £0.5bn in assets under management to Hurst Point, a private equity-backed consolidator whose lead investor is Carlyle, as well as 2,500 clients and 65 employees.

With approximately £2bn of common assets, this will bring the Hurst Point Group’s net assets to around £8bn and increase the team of financial advisors to more than 120, furthering that group’s ambition to become a national wealth management business.

As part of the deal, Helm Godfrey’s financial planning team will become part of the group’s financial planning division while its investment management team will become part of Hurst Point’s Investment Management division.

Graham Cross, chief executive officer at Helm Godfrey, said: “Finding a complementary partner has taken time, focused as we are on putting clients at the centre of everything we do.

“Hurst Point Group will provide the foundations to underpin Helm Godfrey’s future success and we are delighted with the outcome.

“We believe that we have found the right partner, with the platform to deliver on our numerous objectives.”

Leading the sale was corporate partner at Shakespeare Martineau, Catherine Moss, she said: “I’m really pleased that we have provided support to Helm Godfrey, a long-standing client, in executing such a significant deal for its shareholders.

“The deal is complex due to the number of key stakeholders involved including shareholders and investors, but it has been a pleasure to work with Graham and his team in helping to create a solution which will support their future growth plans.”

The Shakespeare Martineau team provided corporate and commercial legal advice and the team included corporate experts Deeya Ray, Jennie Davis and Joseph Beat as well as commercial partner Kim Walker, commercial property expert Simon Robinson, employment partner Jon Heuvel and tax support from tax expert, Oliver Gutman.