Wren Sterling has acquired London-based IFA firm, adding approximately £900m AUM
- Simon Bourke
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
12th December 2025
Summary
Wren Sterling has acquired London-based IFA firm Evans Hart for an undisclosed sum, adding around £900m of assets under management and nearly 2,500 clients to its national advice business. Backed by US private equity house Lightyear Capital, Wren Sterling is using acquisitions like Evans Hart to build a larger, advice-led national network with particular strength in high-net-worth financial planning.
Who is Wren Sterling?
Wren Sterling is a national financial planning and wealth management business headquartered in Nottingham. It provides independent advice to individuals, families and businesses across the UK, supported by its own discretionary fund management arm, Magnus.
In December 2021, New York–based private equity firm Lightyear Capital backed a secondary management buyout of Wren Sterling and Magnus, replacing Palatine Private Equity as the majority shareholder.
Who is Evans Hart?
Evans Hart is an independent financial advice firm that has been serving clients across London and the South East since 1986. It operates from offices in Fleet Street (London), Kingston, Bookham and Deddington, with a strong emphasis on long-term financial planning for higher-net-worth and affluent clients.
The firm is known for its technical advice capability and relationship-led service model, which were key reasons Wren Sterling highlighted the business as a strong cultural and operational fit for the group.
The deal
Wren Sterling has completed the acquisition of Evans Hart for an undisclosed sum. The transaction brings around £900m of client assets under management and approximately 2,450 mainly higher-net-worth and affluent clients into the group, along with 28 staff across Evans Hart’s four offices in Fleet Street, Kingston, Bookham and Deddington. This takes Wren Sterling’s total acquired AUM in 2025 to roughly £1.8bn.
The acquisition gives Wren Sterling a new London hub on Fleet Street and greater density across the South East, complementing its existing offices in Oxford, Sidcup and Shepperton and further strengthening its national footprint in advice-led, high-net-worth financial planning.
Recent Wren Sterling acquisitions
This deal follows a number of recent transactions as Wren Sterling builds its national network:
City Financial (Aberdeen) Ltd – June 2025 – Acquisition of a Scotland-based advice firm with over £700m AUM and more than 6,000 clients, doubling Wren Sterling’s presence north of the border and taking group AUM to around £11bn.
Trio of regional acquisitions – March 2025 – Three UK advice businesses acquired in a single programme, adding more than £300m of AUM.
How this fits into the wider financial planning & wealth M&A market
The Evans Hart deal reflects a couple of themes in UK financial planning and wealth management M&A:
PE-backed consolidators targeting high-quality regional firms – Wren Sterling’s buy-and-build strategy, backed by Lightyear Capital, is reminiscent of similar moves by other groups. Clifton Wealth Partnership for example, backed by CBPE Capital, has completed ten acquisitions in 2025.
Scaling advice around regional hubs – Titan Wealth’s recent acquisition of Bath-based Morgans Limited (c.3,000 clients, five advisers, eight staff) is another example of building local clusters – in Titan’s case around its Bristol office in the South West.
At Chapters Capital, we specialise in financial planning and wealth management M&A and understand the importance of strategic acquisitions for growth. Whether you are considering a sale, merger, or expansion or want to learn more about buyers in the space, please contact one of our professional associates today for a confidential, no-obligation consultation.
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