Fairstone Group adds Northern Ireland base and grows Belfast presence with first acquisition

Fairstone Group, incorporating one of the largest Chartered Financial Planning firms in the UK, has entered into an agreement with First Financial Management (NI) Ltd under its downstream buyout model. The company, based in Lisburn, Country Antrim, has been renamed Fairstone NI. Taking place over a number of years, the deal will allow Fairstone NI to integrate with the Group’s state of the art systems and infrastructure and will allow a seamless transition for clients.

In addition, in the first deal of its own ongoing partnership programme, Fairstone NI will acquire Carleton Chambers Ltd. This arrangement sees Carleton Chambers’ Brian Vallely joining as partner and financial adviser, based in Belfast.  Prior to joining Carleton Chambers, Brian worked for Nationwide Building Society.

The deals will bring total revenue of almost £1m to the Fairstone Group and funds under management of £100million.

Led by Peter Savage and Sean Larkin, Fairstone NI consists of seven advisers and five support staff and their 500 clients will now benefit from the support of the broader Fairstone Group. Fairstone NI is a Chartered Financial Planning company and provides specialist advice on asset protection, succession planning, pre- and post-retirement planning, corporate solutions and tax and estate planning.

Lee Hartley, CEO of Fairstone Group, said:

“As a Chartered financial advisory business ourselves, it was very attractive for us to work with another Chartered company as we seek the highest standards of advice across our business. Fairstone NI has an enviable reputation in Northern Ireland and was an excellent cultural fit as well as making sound business sense. Our client acquisition tools will enable the team to grow their offering and their business whilst freeing up their time for advisory work. Above all, our new relationship will allow clients to benefit from the marketing, infrastructure and services support that the Fairstone Group offers to its partners.”

Peter Savage, Chartered Financial Planner at Fairstone NI, commented:

“As a Chartered firm before we joined the Group, we believed that in Fairstone we had a partner that held the same standards to clients as we did and could help us grow our business and help raise our profile in Northern Ireland. 

“Leveraging our partnership with Fairstone Group, we are therefore very pleased to announce this significant first deal for Fairstone NI and to welcome Brian to the team.  His experience and knowledge will be invaluable in supporting our clients.”

Sean Larkin, Chartered Financial Planner at Fairstone NI, added:

“Being part of Fairstone has provided us with scalability and additional credibility which is particularly useful when dealing with larger professional connections. What we’ve witnessed as a result is an increase in both business turnover and ultimately, profitability.

“Smaller IFA companies in Northern Ireland often struggle to secure attractive buy-out opportunities, with the bulk of deals being awarded to much larger organisations.  Through our partnership programme we see a great opportunity to bring the very best advisers, like Carleton Chambers, under the Fairstone umbrella.”