The Manchester-headquartered private equity backer of the likes of Gusto and The Alchemist has sold its stake in a financial adviser to its management team.
Palatine Private Equity has exchanged contracts for the sale of Wren Sterling to the management who are supported by investment funds affiliated with Lightyear Capital LLC, which is making a majority investment.
Wren Sterling was created in 2015 through the Palatine-backed management buyout of Towergate Financial. It currently has offices in London, Warwick, Grantham, Shepperton, Halifax and Glasgow.
The business has completed eight bolt-on acquisitions during Palatine's investment period, including four in 2021.
Lightyear is a New York-based private equity firm that specialises in investing in financial services business.
All of Wren Sterling’s management team and staff remain in place and the deal is subject to FCA approval.
Andy Strickland, senior investment director at Palatine Private Equity, said: "Wren Sterling has been a very successful investment for Palatine, achieving strong organic growth and completing a series of successful strategic acquisitions.
Most Read
"Working with the excellent management team during the life of our investment, we’ve collaborated on a range of transformative projects to digitalise the business, improve its environmental performance and bolster its approach to talent management.
Don't miss a thing - sign up for your free North West newsletter - and follow us on LinkedIn
Email newsletters
BusinessLive is your home for business news from around the North West- and you can stay in touch with all the latest news from Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria through our email alerts.
You can sign up to receive daily morning news bulletins from every region we cover and to weekly email bulletins covering key economic sectors from manufacturing to technology and enterprise. And we'll send out breaking news alerts for any stories we think you can't miss.
Visit our email preference centre to sign up to all the latest news from BusinessLive.
For all the latest stories, views, polls and more - and the news as it breaks - .
"Wren Sterling is very well placed to continue to its’ organic growth and consolidate the IFA market with further acquisitions.
"The management team have done a fantastic job and we’d like to thank them for their hard work and wish them every success in the future."
Ian Darby, executive chairman at Wren Sterling, added: "The partnership we have enjoyed with Palatine has been highly successful over the last six years, based on a close, collaborative and supportive relationship.
"Together we have achieved a huge amount as we professionalised the business, investing significantly in our technology, people and proposition.
"As a management team we see significant opportunity to scale Wren Sterling in the independent financial advice market, and we are delighted that Lightyear Capital shares this vision.
Latest Greater Manchester Business News
Don’t miss
"We look forward to executing our exciting business plan to take the business to the next stage with them as our new investment partner."
The deal is the second successful exit for Palatine in 2021 so far, following the sale of its shareholding in road safety training provider TTC to its management team and Pricoa Private Capital in May.
Palatine has completed four new investments in 2021 with the acquisitions of stakes in Anthesis, FourNet, Routes Healthcare, and TranScrip across its buyout and impact funds.
Advisers to the deal included: sell side corporate finance – Houlihan Lokey, sell side lawyer – Gateley, sell side debt advisory – Clearwater, vendor FDD – Deloitte, vendor compliance DD – Thistle, management advisory – Liberty, management Legal – Pitmans.