Acquisition sees 1825 create North West of England regional office

The Edinburgh-based insurance giant said the deal will establish 1825’s North West Regional Office with 30 employees including seven advisers and four paraplanners.

Jones Sheridan is a long-standing financial planning business in Crewe, Cheshire, specialising in retirement planning, wealth management and wealth protection.

On completion of this and the other recently announced acquisitions, 1825 will have 75 financial planners advising over 9,300 clients on around £3.3bn of their assets.

Jones Sheridan’s leadership team, headed by Managing Director David Williams and Chairman Stuart Banks, will stay with the business post completion to help grow and develop the Regional Office. David will take up overall responsibility for the North West Regional Office. He will also join the 1825 Executive Committee.

David Williams, Managing Director at Jones Sheridan, said: “Having built the business up over the last 16 years, it now feels absolutely the right time to take it to the next stage. The breadth of the 1825 proposition will enable us to offer our clients market leading solutions for all their planning needs. Joining 1825 is a very natural fit for us as we are both strongly aligned to the belief that advisers add the greatest value by helping clients understand and achieve their financial goals.

“1825 can also offer us the resources and scale to enable the business to grow and prosper, while offering our people the development opportunities available by being part of a larger organisation.”

Steve Murray, 1825 CEO, said: “Today’s announcement is another step towards 1825 building a UK wide financial planning footprint.

“As past acquirers of adviser businesses themselves, the team at Jones Sheridan are expert at making the integration process successful. They are highly motivated professionals who place clients at the heart of everything they do. We are very much looking forward to working with them in pursuit of our common goal of offering the best possible outcomes with expert financial planning.”

The transaction is expected to complete in early Q4 2016 subject to certain conditions being satisfied, including receipt of regulatory approvals.