Portfolio
Nature of Business
Bestinvest is a leading investment adviser for affluent and high net worth clients whether they want to make their own decisions or they want their investments to be managed for them. Overall, it looks after almost £4 billion in client assets and won the award for Best Wealth Manager of 2011 from FT/Investors Chronicle. Bestinvest also offers a range of complementary services from financial planning to tax-efficient investment, which is a unique area of expertise. Its core strengths are its rigorously independent research expertise, competitive pricing and highest levels of professionalism.
Investment Overview
3i was attracted to Bestinvest because it was, and remains, a market leader in the wealth management sector and it has a unique distribution model. We backed the £166m MBO of the company in August 2007. During 2010/11, we have worked closely with Bestinvest’s new management team to achieve organic growth by expanding the company’s range of services, improving its marketing functions and focusing on its sales conversion rate. A major investment has been completed in a new systems platform which enables Bestinvest to offer great value across the new services and to achieve scalable growth. These factors have helped continue growth in the amount of funds the company has under management. We have also helped devise a strategy of making add-on acquisitions of businesses that offer either complementary services or additional funds under management. As a result of this strategy, in January 2010 Bestinvest completed the acquisition of the Financial Services division of the Haines Watts accounting practice, one of the top twenty regional accountancy firms in the UK and Bestinvest is actively pursuing further acquisition opportunities. Since the appointment of Mike Covell as Chairman and Peter Hall as Chief Executive, the leadership team has now been strengthened with the appointment of a new COO, Head of Direct & Advisory and Head of Investment Management, all of whom held major roles at UBS or Barclays Wealth.
