Rathbone Brothers raises £49m in placing to help fund acquisition

Wealth manager Rathbone Brothers said on Thursday that it has raised net proceeds of around £49m in a placing to help fund the £150m acquisition of UK financial planning business Saunderson House.

Rathbones placed just over 2.8m ordinary shares with institutional investors at 1,760p each via an accelerated bookbuild. The placing price represents a discount of around 7.9% to the closing share price a day earlier.

The company will use the proceeds to help fund the acquisition of Saunderson, which was announced on Wednesday. Rathbone Brothers noted that Saunderson is the largest professional services-focused financial planning business in the UK, with £4.7bn of funds under management and administration, around 2,200 clients and 55 financial advisers.

It said the deal further strengthens its financial planning capability, enhancing its ability to offer a wider wealth proposition to high net worth and ultra high net worth clients, and adding scale to financial planning FUMA totalling £8.3bn on a pro forma basis.

Chief executive officer Paul Stockton said: "Saunderson House is a high-quality business with a strong desire to deliver leading wealth management services to clients over the long term, and it will add both scale and capability to Rathbones.

"Commonly shared values and a resolute focus on delivering quality client outcomes provide a firm foundation from which to take advantage of some exciting growth opportunities."