Fairstone expands in West Midlands with largest acquisition to date

Fairstone has made a major expansion in the West Midlands with its largest acquisition to date.

The fast-growing wealth management group has bought Prosperity Wealth, which is based in Brierley Hill near Dudley.

Founded in 2010, Prosperity Wealth specialises in wealth management, cashflow planning, corporate financial planning and employee benefits advice.

Its 80-strong workforce includes 49 advisers and it serves more than 5,000 clients across the country, with the majority based in the West Midlands, and has £1.5bn of client assets under management.

Headed by independent financial adviser Matt Bell, Prosperity Wealth first partnered with Fairstone in July 2023 through the unique Downstream Buy Out (DBO) programme.

Fairstone’s DBO model is designed to unlock the full potential of independent advisory firms by investing in their growth during a period of partnership, before fully acquiring the business.

Prosperity Wealth’s partnership period has now completed with the firm now becoming a full part of Fairstone.

Matt Bell, Head of Office at Prosperity Wealth, said: “We’re really excited to become part of the Fairstone group.

“We wanted to join Fairstone because it offers us the opportunity to create a real step-change in growth while remaining a trusted source of independent financial advice – in many respects, it’s the best of both worlds.

“Over the past two and a half years since we first partnered with Fairstone, we’ve really benefited from the excellent support we’ve received and the business has already grown substantially as a result.

“Fairstone’s commitment to client service excellence matches our own values. The greater resources, support and economies of scale they offer mean our clients benefit in the form of reduced fees, a wider choice of products and the enhanced financial security they get from being part of one of the UK and Ireland’s largest and most trusted wealth management groups.”

Prosperity Wealth’s Brierley Hill base will now become Fairstone’s hub office for the West Midlands – a key growth region for the business.

Fairstone’s hub network brings decision-making closer to communities and strengthens client outcomes.

Each of the group’s 11 hubs across the UK and Ireland is evolving into a fully equipped operational centre, replicating head office functions and delivering a full range of services efficiently at a local level.

Mike Slater, Managing Director for Fairstone’s Central region, said: “Prosperity Wealth’s status and influence in the region made it an obvious choice to become our hub for the West Midlands.

“Matt and his team will now be in the vanguard as we look to extend our client base across what is one of the UK’s most thriving regions.

“With the West Midlands having one of the country’s highest rates of new business formation and a rising population of entrepreneurs, business owners, and senior professionals, the need for trusted, Chartered, independent financial advice has never been greater.

“We can’t wait to work with Matt and his team to bring all the benefits of Fairstone to the region.”

Fairstone is actively seeking more DBO partners in the West Midlands and across the country as it continues its nationwide expansion plans.

Russell Bignall, Chief Financial Planning Officer at Fairstone, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Matt and the Prosperity Wealth team to Fairstone.

“As the largest firm to have joined Fairstone in terms of client assets under management, bringing on board Prosperity Wealth is a real milestone in our growth journey.

“It is a firm with a long established and well-earned reputation for providing excellent service to its clients and for its specialist expertise in a number of different areas of the advisory market, particularly on the corporate financial planning side.

“Matt’s ambition to grow the business while keeping clients front and centre matches our own philosophy and we’re looking forward to working together to achieve further success as Fairstone expands its footprint on a regional and national scale.

“We’re looking to partner with similarly ambitious, forward-thinking firms right across the UK and Ireland as we look to grow the business to £40bn of client assets under management by the end of 2030.”

Fairstone is one of the fastest growing financial services organisations in the UK and Ireland.

It operates from more than 50 different locations, employs over 1,250 people serving over 60,000 wealth clients and is aiming to double client assets under management to £40bn over the next five years.

Fairstone’s innovative DBO model offers capital investment, operational resource, and regulatory support to partner firms, allowing them to focus on developing their performance without being restricted by back-office or compliance workload.

It also gives firms the ability to sell at the optimum time, ensuring they realise maximum value when the time is right for them and they share in the proceeds of their growth.