SJP announced on Tuesday it will acquire 100% of discretionary fund manager Rowan Dartington for an initial payment of £19m ($29.7m, €26.8m), with a further maximum potential future consideration of £15.2m.
St. James’s Place said it has been considering the provision of DFM services for some time and it said Rowan Dartington “provides an excellent platform from which to build this additional service for our clients.
Trevor Cheal, chairman of Ardan International, said when the deal is completed Rowan Dartington will remain an autonomous business within the combined group and Ardan will remain part of RD.
“It will retain its branding so nothing will change. Ardan will remain a whole-of-market international wealth platform,” Cheal said in interview with International Adviser.
“The big difference now is we’ve now got the backing of a FTSE-100 company"
Ardan International was bought by Rowan Dartington in April 2014 and rebranded last December. The platform has access to over 30,000 funds and 70,000 lines of stock across all the major global markets. It also allows advisers to run client portfolios to specific risk mandates.
“The big difference now is we’ve now got the backing of a FTSE-100 company behind us to make it a success,” Cheal said.
“I don’t see any difference in the service we give or the platform we supply.”
“To me the biggest part of this (deal) is greater financial stability within the business which should give advisers greater confidence to use us,” said Cheal.
Asia expansion
St James’s Place completed the purchase of the Singapore-based Henley Group in June last year and said then it planned to use the acquisition to target the expat market in East Asia. On Tuesday SJP confirmed its international operations will make use of the Ardan platform.
“Ardan is a very complementary platform for that expansion program,” said Cheal.
