Brewin Dolphin set to be acquired for £1.6 billion

Published by

Peter Davison

Wealth management specialist Brewin Dolphin – which has offices in Bristol, Cheltenham, Marlborough, and Oxford – is set to be acquired by the Royal Bank of Canada after a £1.6 billion offer was recommended to shareholders.

Brewin Dolphin is one of the UK's leading independent providers of discretionary wealth management in the UK and Ireland, with a network of more than 2,000 employees in 30 offices and Assets under Management of £59 billion as at December 31, 2021.

Commenting on the acquisition, Doug Guzman, group head, RBC Wealth Management, RBC Insurance, and RBC Investor & Treasury Services, said: "The UK is a key growth market for RBC, and Brewin Dolphin provides us with an exceptional platform to significantly transform our wealth management business in the region, giving RBC Wealth Management a # 3 market position in the UK and Ireland, in addition to being a market leader in Canada, with a growing position in the United States.

"By combining two highly complementary businesses, we will increase the depth and breadth of our services and position the combined business as a premier integrated wealth management provider to private and institutional clients.

"Both management teams are excited by a shared vision of high-quality client service, client-centric culture and the exceptional growth opportunities that we can deliver together. We look to continue investing in the combined business and take it to greater heights. We are confident that this acquisition will deliver benefits to our combined clients, employees and stakeholders."

David Thomas, CEO, RBC Capital Markets Europe and head, wealth management added: "This is a transformative acquisition for RBC Wealth Management and cements RBC's position as a market leader across multiple business platforms in the UK, the Channel Islands and Europe.

"We look forward to welcoming Brewin Dolphin's employees and clients and working together to leverage RBC's global reach and significant capabilities to create new opportunities for the combined business to grow."

Brewin Dolphin CEO Robin Beer said: "The Brewin Dolphin board is pleased to recommend the offer by RBC in the interests of our shareholders, our clients, our people and our business partners.

"Building on the strong organic growth that we have achieved to date, the combined businesses will create an attractive platform for future growth.

"As part of RBC we would be able to provide our clients with a broader range of products and services, and expand our distribution channels through leveraging RBC's global presence. We share complementary values which emphasise the importance of long-standing client relationships and an inclusive culture supportive of employees and local communities.

"Our focus will be on maintaining continuity, so that we build on what we have already achieved. I am looking forward to us working together to enhance our market position as a leading advice-focused, digitally-enabled wealth manager."

Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country. An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts. Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.