Brewin Dolphin agrees £1.6bn takeover deal
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has agreed a £1.6bn takeover of wealth management group Brewin Dolphin.
RBC is one of the world’s largest financial services companies, with 88,000 employees and annual revenues of £30bn.
It already has a wealth business in the UK and the Channel Islands but the acquisition of Brewin Dolphin will be transformative, creating a combined business with £64bn of assets under management and annual revenues of £545m.
Doug Guzman, group head of RBC Wealth Management, said: “The UK is a key growth market for RBC, and Brewin Dolphin provides us with an exceptional platform to significantly transform our wealth management business in the region, giving RBC Wealth Management a number three market position in the UK and Ireland, in addition to being a market leader in Canada, with a growing position in the United States.”
Brewin Dolphin employs more than 2,000 people across its 30 UK offices, including in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham, Lincoln, Shrewsbury and Penrith.
It is a member of the FTSE 250 and has been a public company since 1994. Its board has recommended the RBC offer, which will now go to a shareholder vote.
The 515p-per-share cash offer is at a 54% premium to the six-month average price. Its shares have only ever briefly traded above 400p.
Robin Beer, chief executive of Brewin Dolphin, said: “Building on the strong organic growth that we have achieved to date, the combined business will create an attractive platform for future growth.
“As part of RBC we would be able to provide our clients with a broader range of products and services, and expand our distribution channels through leveraging RBC’s global presence.”
