Standard Life buys advice firm as it welcomes SNP’s Westminster invasion

Edinburgh-based insurance giant Standard Life has re-emerged within financial advice arena after completing the acquisition of wealth manager Pearson Jones from Skipton Building Society.

The news comes as Standard’s low-key annual meeting held in Edinburgh yesterday heard chairman Sir Gerry Grimstone defend the firm’s anti-independence position during last year’s referendum campaign.

However, Sir Gerry gave his backing to what he said was the “strong voice” of the 56-strong cohort of SNP MPs that has been sent down to Westminster as a result of last week’s General Election.

Addressing the position taken by Standard in the weeks leading up to last September’s vote on independence, when it controversially announced that it was ready to relocate south of the border in the event of a ‘Yes’ vote, Sir Gerry said he would “do exactly the same thing again”, but stressed: “Our stance should never be taken as being against Scotland.”

He added that he was “proud of our Scottish heritage” and Standard had never shown “antipathy to Scotland” during the campaign, adding that “regrettably we would have to move parts of our business to England – but we never told people how they should vote”.

But commenting on last week’s stunning SNP victory, he said: “I am looking forward to there being a strong, reasonable Scottish voice in Parliament, it will be good for Scotland and as one of the leading companies in Scotland it will be good for us.”

Meanwhile, news of the Pearson Jones acquisition chimed with Sir Gerry’s assertion that Standard has welcomed with open arms” what he described as the “revolutionary changes in pensions”.

The stance appears to reflect the move for Pearson Jones in which it has purchased 100 per cent of the issued share capital. The Chartered business has offices in Leeds, Sheffield, Bishop Auckland and Reading.

The acquisition for an undisclosed sum will bring in assets under advice of £1.1bn as well as a total of 39 advisers and paraplanners.

Steve Murray, until December group strategy and corporate finance director at Standard, will lead the firm’s 102 employees as CEO.

Standard is now looking to build on the purchase with further acquisitions, though a spokesperson said it has no target for the number of advisers or firms it wants.

Also addressing yesterday’s AGM, chief executive David Nish said Standard now had 3.8m customers, 3.2m of whom wanted to engage actively about their investments, and the company would be launching enhanced online tools and guidance during the current quarter.

All the resolutions put to the AGM were duly passed, the firm said.

Sir Gerry added that the acquisition of Ignis and the sale of Standard’s historic Canadian business to Manulife last year had been “the right moves” for the group.

Standard’s market value was as high now as it had been before the Canadian deal was announced, despite the return of £1.75bn to shareholders.

It was also double the company’s £4.6bn market value on its 2006 flotation – and another £4.6bn had also been handed out in dividends. “I hope you agree that’s pretty good going,” the chairman said.