Fairstone Group acquires DHD Wealth Management

Fairstone Group, one of the UK’s fastest growing Chartered Financial Planning firms, has completed its latest full acquisition under its Downstream Buy Out programme. DHD Wealth Management, which is headquartered in Wales and with offices across the southern part of the country, has become part of the Fairstone Group, which is headquartered in South Tyneside.

Led by principals, Aled Davies, Clive Davies and Denise Jacob, DHD Wealth Management is a firm of independent financial advisers, providing advice to clients throughout Wales on all aspects of investment, pensions, life insurance and tax planning.
DHD Wealth Management will bring total revenue of £1.5m to the Fairstone Group and funds under management of £260m. Four advisers and five support staff will also join the Group.

DHD entered into the DBO programme in April 2016 and the acquisition was fully completed in May 2017, a full 11 months ahead of the intended completion date – a factor which was driven by the integration phase proving to be highly satisfactory for both parties.

Fairstone chief executive, Lee Hartley (pictured), said: “Aled, Clive and the team at DHD Wealth Management bring a huge amount of experience to Fairstone and, having fully embraced the Fairstone proposition from the outset, we are delighted to welcome them to the Group. DHD is an extremely well organised and robust business which also enjoys a strong and loyal client base. The integration and due diligence process with DHD progressed exceptionally well and thus the date of this acquisition was duly accelerated.

As part of Fairstone’s offering, DHD will benefit from the unique range of growth and support services that we can provide. This means that the team at DHD can focus on their clients whilst the back-office, marketing and client activation work are boosted by the broader Group, enabling the team to set their growth ambitions to a new trajectory.”

Aled Davies, principal at DHD Wealth Management, added: “In choosing to work with Fairstone, we recognised the benefits of being part of a larger business whilst maintaining our independent status and protecting the interests of our clients. For us it was vital to be able to spend more time with our clients and to leave the regulatory and operational side to the experts at Fairstone – prior to working with Fairstone I was disillusioned with the increasing level of compliance and regulatory workload and I’m now looking forward to concentrating on what I enjoy best which is directly advising clients. As a business we are eagerly anticipating a step-change in the expansion of our business and ensuring smooth succession planning for our valued clients in the years ahead.”