Clifton Wealth Partnership (CWP) has announced the acquisition of two financial planning firms, Cairn Independent and JRW, as the business expands in Scotland.

Cairn, which is based in Fife, will work closely with Glasgow-based JRW to maintain and grow CWP’s client base in Scotland.

Combined, the businesses add almost £150m in assets under management (AUM) to CWP, bringing Clifton Group’s total AUM to more than £3.5bn.

Alongside the two firms joining CWP, Cairn operations director, Laura Young, will take on the expanded role of regional financial planning support manager with Clifton going forward.

Cairn was founded by Robert Young, initially as part of Carlisle Insurance and Financial Services, who will retire following the acquisition.

It then became Cairn Independent in 2011 and now looks after 250 family groups.

The wider Cairn financial planning team, including fellow director and chartered financial planner, David Cameron-Harper, financial planner, Aaron O’Neill, senior paraplanners, Teresa Lambert and Andrew Mackay, paraplanner, Emma Mollison, and administrator, Subhan Parvaiz, will also be staying on with the business.

“There were lots of things we wanted to be able to do as a business around technology, platforms and systems both for our clients and our own team day-to-day,” Young stated.

“Clifton’s long-standing technology focus will make these things possible for us and they also made it absolutely clear very early on in conversations how their technology and culture always put the client first.

“We’ve always been proud to be part of the amazing financial planning community here in Scotland and I’m really looking forward to spending time with firms across the region as part of my new role at CWP.”

Meanwhile, JRW was established in 2016 and provides financial planning services to 300 clients.

JRW company director and financial planner, Ian Walsh, will stay on as a consultant for a 12-month period following the acquisition before retiring.

Fellow adviser, Jonathan Shaw, will continue on with the business alongside administrator, Amy Baillie.

“The majority of our clients at JRW are local to the Lanarkshire and Glasgow area so a big priority for us was to keep our team and office base here in Blantyre after I retire,” said Walsh.

“Some acquirers would want us to relocate or leave the area but Clifton were very supportive of us staying here and maintaining continuity for our clients.

“I’ve already started introducing my clients to fellow JRW adviser, Jonathan, and I’ll continue joining client calls and meetings with him for some time to come in my consultant role.

“Having worked in financial services for 28 years, I know a lot of my clients extremely well, so it’s really important to me that we give them time to get comfortable with this change.”

CWP managing director, Anthony Carty, added: “Robert and Laura have nurtured a fantastic business and team culture at Cairn. And at JRW, you can just tell by the way Ian talks about his client relationships that he has a wealth of experience with them, as well as great knowledge of the local market in Central Scotland.

“These are exactly the type of advice firms we want to support so they can continue their good work with local clients. We’re privileged to be part of the next chapter for both businesses and would like to wish Robert and Ian all the very best when they retire.

“Having Laura’s expertise on board as part of the wider Clifton team will be very exciting too, as we look to do more work with the many great financial planning firms across Scotland.”

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