Hurst Point Group, a UK financial services platform set up by the Carlyle Group in 2020, has agreed to buy industry peer Helm Godfrey in its seventh bolt-on acquisition to date.
The deal is the latest in a series of transactions in which private equity or larger strategic acquirers have bought European financial advisors—a trend that has also been seen in the US. Among the largest deals was Rathbones’ £839 million (about $1.05 billion) acquisition of Investec Wealth & Investment last month.
Helm Godfrey has around £1 billion in assets under advice and around £500 million in assets under management. The deal will bring Hurst Point’s overall AUM to £8 billion.
Hurst Point previously acquired asset manager Argentis Group and wealth manager AJ Gallagher in 2020 before adding discretionary fund manager Hawksmoor to the platform in 2021 for €24.1 million. The platform has since been buying independent financial advisors under the Argentis brand, including D Heaton and Wealth Creation & Management last year.
In the asset management sector, the firm also bought Metis Wealth and Metis Asset Management last year, with the former being absorbed into Argentis while the latter joined Hawksmoor. This latest deal will also see three investment managers move across to Helm Godfrey as Carlyle looks to consolidate the sector for advising and managing money.
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