Fairstone expands in Scotland with two acquisitions and opening of Aberdeen hub

Fairstone is expanding its presence in Scotland with the acquisition of two firms and the opening of a new hub office in the Aberdeen area.

The fast-growing wealth management group has bought independent financial advice firms City Gate Aberdeen and Albyn Associates, both of whom are based in Aberdeen.

The two firms have relocated to Fairstone’s new hub office in Westhill on the outskirts of Aberdeen, where they join the rest of the group’s existing operation in the Granite City.

Fairstone CEO, Steven Cooper CBE, said: “We’re delighted to welcome City Gate Aberdeen and Albyn Associates to the group and to be opening our new office, which will form the hub for our operations across northern Scotland.

“This is a significant move for us in a strategically important area of the UK where we see great potential for further expansion.

“Aberdeen and northern Scotland have a strong tradition of entrepreneurial, internationally connected businesses which are increasingly shaped by the energy transition.

“We see this creating strong demand for the kind of sophisticated financial planning, private wealth and intergenerational advice which we specialise in.

“We’re looking forward to helping many more families and individuals in the region to make confident decisions to shape their financial futures.”

City Gate Aberdeen was founded September 2002 and provides clients with a wide range of financial planning, mortgage and protection services, managing more than £100m of assets.

Headed by Chartered Financial Planner & Fellow of the PFS Alan Johnston, City Gate Aberdeen first partnered with Fairstone in 2023 through the group’s 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.

City Gate Aberdeen’s partnership period has completed with the firm now becoming a full part of Fairstone.

Alan Johnston said: “We’re excited to become part of Fairstone and to have moved into the new hub office.

“This will give us improved technology infrastructure, enhanced meeting facilities and enable us to continue to offer our wider range of services to clients.

“Since we first partnered with Fairstone in September 2023 we’ve really benefited from having the additional support and backing that comes from a major national group.

“It has freed our team up to be able to spend more time with clients and to help further build the business.”

Albyn Associates was founded in 1998 and offers a wide range of financial planning and mortgage services, managing more than £80m of assets.

Headed by independent financial advisers Colin MacLennan and Charlie Thomson, Albyn Associates signed up to the DBO programme in December 2023.

Colin explained: “We joined Fairstone to strengthen the support we can offer to clients.

“It’s enabled us to meet increasing regulatory, technology and governance requirements, while giving us access to colleagues who are specialists across all areas of financial planning.

“Our clients benefit from Fairstone’s whole‑of‑market relationships and national network and the group’s scale means clients can also access a wider range of products, often at more favourable investment terms.

“We’re really looking forward to working with our new colleagues and expanding the business across the region.”

City Gate Aberdeen and Albyn Associates join Forbes Lawson Wealth Management, led by firm principals Richard Macmillan and Ian Robinson, which joined Fairstone in 2024 as an equally established business that has been providing client-focused financial advice for over 24 years.

Together, the combined teams now leverage Fairstone’s regulatory expertise, national scale, and advanced technology to continue providing trusted, independent financial advice, premium investment solutions and mortgage and protection services to clients across Aberdeen and beyond.

The Northern Scotland hub is the 13th in Fairstone’s network across the UK and Ireland.

Each hub is evolving into a fully equipped operational centre, replicating head office functions and delivering a full range of services efficiently at a local level.

Shona Lowe, Managing Director for Fairstone’s Scotland and Northern Ireland region, said: “Bringing Alan, Colin, Charlie and their teams fully onboard to work alongside Forbes Lawson and opening the Northern Scotland hub is a real step-change for us in Scotland.

“With hubs now in Glasgow and Aberdeen alongside offices across the country, we’re perfectly placed to provide many more people with financial advice for life’s most important moments.”

Fairstone is one of the fastest growing financial services organisations in the UK and Ireland with over £22bn of client assets under management and a five-star rating on Trustpilot from over 15,000 client reviews.

It operates from more than 50 different locations, employs over 1,350 people serving over 65,000 wealth clients and 60,000 mortgage clients.

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.