Brooks Macdonald launches new group masterbrand on 25th anniversary

Investment management groups Brooks Macdonald, which has a significant presence in Scotland via its Edinburgh office, has today launched a new corporate identity designed to bring together all of its subsidiary businesses under one Brooks Macdonald ‘masterbrand’.

All of the Group’s core divisions - Asset Management, Financial Consulting, Funds, Retirement Services and International - will now be unified under one single Brooks Macdonald brand, the firm said.

Only the Group’s specialist fund team at North Row Capital and its property management business, Braemar Estates, will maintain their own identities given the profile of these individual brands in their specialist fields.

Today also sees Brooks Macdonald unveil its new corporate website www.brooksmacdonald.com.

Up until now, the firm has operated as an integrated wealth manager, working with the intermediary market; a strategy which has resulted in steady, organic growth in funds under management. By switching its business focus firmly onto investment management services, Brooks Macdonald aims to further cement its position as the investment manager of choice for professional advisers.

Today’s news also coincides with Brooks Macdonald’s 25-year anniversary, after the business was founded in 1991 by Chris Macdonald, Jonathan Gumpel, Richard Spencer and Martin Mullany, pioneering the way for fee-based wealth management in an otherwise commission–focused financial services industry.

Since then, the Group has grown from a single office in Mayfair, London, with just 41 employees in 2006, to having 12 offices across the UK and the Channel Islands, with 470 staff today and funds under management in excess of £7.82 billion as at 31 December 2015.

In 2005, Brooks Macdonald floated on AIM with a market cap of £14m, which has grown to over £240m today. The Group now works with over 900 professional intermediaries, including 17 strategic alliances, and operates in the UK and internationally, across Europe, South Africa, and the Middle East.

In Scotland, the business was established in 2009, with team of experienced investment directors and managers joining from Adam & Company Investment Management Ltd, many of whom are still in place today.

They include Robin McAdam, Head of Edinburgh Office, at Brooks Macdonald, who said: “In Scotland, we established our presence when we opened our office in Edinburgh in 2009, recruiting a high quality team of three investment managers who had long experience working together in the private client arena. Since then, the team has grown to a current total of ten across investment management, business development and administrative support. This growth has been driven by the increasing support of the intermediary market and our clients. We see this growth and support continuing on an upward curve.”

Chris MacDonald, Chief Executive of Brooks Macdonald Group said: “After 25 years of growth, we are proud to have evolved into one of the leading independent investment management groups in the UK today, while maintaining the same core values, culture and ethos that differentiate us in the industry and remain at the heart of our business.

“There has been a huge amount of change since the business was founded, both in the industry and within our firm. But over that time we are proud to have consistently delivered for our clients, both in terms of investment performance and excellent service.

“By pulling our subsidiary businesses closer together, today’s brand relaunch not only simplifies the Group’s branding message but also emphasises our ability and commitment to delivering the best investment solutions for our clients.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our clients, introducing firms, strategic alliances and my colleagues for all of their support over the past 25 years, and I look forward to continuing our current momentum for many years to come.”