Fairstone strengthens senior team with experienced M&A executive

An experienced mergers and acquisitions executive has joined the senior leadership team at Fairstone as the wealth management group targets further growth.

Scott Kirkby brings more than 25 years’ experience in senior posts at organisations including Bupa, NatWest and Credit Suisse to his new role as Chief Corporate Development Officer at Fairstone.

The Australian-born executive has led globally focused M&A teams in both the UK and the US and has a strong reputation for deal origination, execution and collaborative leadership.

In his new role, Scott will lead on Group-wide M&A activity across the UK and Ireland as Fairstone looks to grow client assets under management (AUM) to £40bn in the next four years.

Scott, who joins from the global investment bank Houlihan Lokey, said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the team at Fairstone.

“I was attracted to the role by the quality of the people within the business, the ambition of its leadership and the clarity of its vision to support more people to make confident decisions about their financial future.

“The business has already been hugely successful in expanding through acquisitions as well as organic growth and it has clear targets to accelerate that expansion further.

“I’m looking forward to working with my new colleagues, both in the M&A team and more broadly across the business to help realise that ambition and continue building on the strong track record of success that Fairstone has already achieved.”

Fairstone has acquired more than 100 IFA and investment management firms in the past 14 years primarily via its market-leading Downstream Buy-Out (DBO) model.

This 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.

Fairstone added more than £2bn of client assets under management after acquiring eight firms in the first three months of 2026 and expects to make a further 13 acquisitions before the end of the year.

The existing M&A team is remaining in place with Scott Kirkby’s arrival providing additional strategic direction and input.

Fairstone CEO Steven Cooper CBE said: “Bringing on board someone of Scott’s stature and reputation adds considerable strength to the business and speaks volumes about our standing in the industry.

“His experience and know-how will be an important part of our drive for further growth as we look to grow our AUM to more than £40bn and become a UK top 10 financial advice and asset management business.

“We already operate one of the most successful acquisition programmes in our industry, having brought over 100 firms into the group via the DBO model.

“Scott’s arrival will give added impetus to our M&A programme as we execute a step-change in our growth over the next few years.”

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 1,350 people serving over 60,000 wealth clients with client assets under management of more than £23bn.