24 May 2019
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Around half a dozen advisers from fund houses Lighthouse and Quilter are considering leaving their positions before a planned merger between the two firms goes ahead, according to a report today.
Martin Brown, a managing partner at Continuum, told FT Adviser: "We have received several enquiries over recent weeks from [advisers of] those companies that are going through that phase. Maybe there is a degree of concern about the deal.
'Under pressure'
"On Quilter the feedback that we are getting is the environment has moved into a sales pressured environment where this has been driven quite significantly. They [feel they] are under pressure to sell."
In April this year, Quilter agreed to acquire Lighthouse for £42m. Quilter, which used to be part of Old Mutual Ltd as Old Mutual Wealth Management, offered 33 pence per Lighthouse share. Once the merger is complete, the deal will result in Quilter and its advice arm Intrinsic expanding to more than 3,900 financial advisers.
Lighthouse provides financial advice to both corporate and retail customers, with over 400 financial advisers emplyed by the company. Shareholders at Lighthouse voted in favour of the merger earlier this month.
Brown told FT Adviser there was some concern at Lighthouse at the lack of clarity surrounding certain aspects of the merger.
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