Corbel Partners snaps up Cannock advisory firm
A Cannock-based advisory firm has been snapped up by Warrington’s Corbel Partners.
Corbel Partners, founded in 2004 by co-founders and directors David O’Hara and Paul Heath, has acquired Wealth Design Holdings.
Under its advisory arm, appointed representatives of Corbel currently service over 15,000 clients with assets under management (AuM) in excess of £2bn.
With Corbel seeking to further grow its business through acquisition and technology investment, Shawbrook provided Corbel with an initial debt facility to support its initial acquisition of Wealth Design Holdings.
The debt facility provided by Shawbrook will also see Corbel invest in new technology to modernise its onboarding and advisory processes for clients. Beyond the initial facility, Shawbrook will provide an additional committed accordion facility to continue to support future acquisitions with another two completing in May.
As an appointed representative of Corbel Partners, Wealth Design has worked closely with Corbel for several years. The acquisition is seen as a natural progression of its business relationship, as Wealth Design’s management team seeks to build an effective succession plan for the business with no client disruption.
O’Hara said: “From day one, Shawbrook have been fantastic and acted as a natural extension of our team. At Corbel, we have ambitious plans for our future growth and business expansion which the team supported us with extensively – from financial modelling and compliance, to structuring a facility which closely aligned with our ambitions.
“We’ve been incredibly impressed with the work Shawbrook has put in to make this deal happen, who went above and beyond to ensure nothing was left unchecked.”
Daniel Martin, senior director at Shawbrook, said: “Having now supported several financial advice businesses in our time, we were immediately impressed with the potential of Corbel that David and Paul presented to us. There is a significant transition of wealth taking place across the IFA industry, which advisors need significant support to effectively manage. Corbel are uniquely placed to provide this support, and we look forward to further seeing their growth in the years to come.”
Nicola Meritt and Cortus Advisory provided financial due diligence and supported the client with the building of their model. Gunnercooke and Rowlinsons provided legal counsel to Shawbrook and Corbel respectively.
