Edinburgh asset management firm Tcam taken over

An Edinburgh-based asset management business that was spun out of law firm Turcan Connell three years ago has been bought by London-headquartered Seven Investment Management (7IM).

Tcam Asset Management provides services to high net worth clients across the UK and has total assets under management of £1.1 billion.

The firm, which was spun out of Turcan Connell via a management buyout in 2015. has 64 staff and is managed by joint chief executives Alex Montgomery and Haig Bathgate, both of whom become partners and investors in 7IM.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed but the Tcam brand will continue in the near term before the 7IM name is adopted by the end of the year.

The 7IM business was established in 2002 by Justin Urquhart Stewart and Tom Sheridan and is headquartered in London with offices in Edinburgh and Jersey. Total assets under management currently standing at £12.5bn and it employs more than 260 staff. London-based Caledonia Investments became the majority investor in 2015.

The deal, which requires the green light from industry regulator the Financial Conduct Authority, will see 7IM acquire 100 per cent of the shares in Tcam.

According to a joint statement put out by the firms, the acquisition will bring together 7IM’s risk management, research and platform capabilities with Tcam’s “active management strength”. Several of Tcam’s senior team members will also become partners in 7IM.

Sheridan, who is chief executive of 7IM, said: “The combination of 7IM and Tcam is a great fit, both commercially and culturally. The two businesses have complementary strengths which will produce an improved investment service for our customers.

“I am delighted that Haig and Alex are joining the 7IM management team who, along with the wider Tcam team, will add to our active management expertise whilst the Tcam private office will be appealing to both 7IM’s intermediary and direct clients.

“This also significantly deepens our presence in Scotland,” he added.

Bathgate, joint chief executive at Tcam, said: “Our two firms share a common mindset and the respect between us is considerable.

“We believe we shall strengthen the investment proposition to both sets of clients by taking the best of both approaches, and we believe our clients will strongly benefit from 7IM’s greater research and risk management resource, not to mention the 7IM technology.”

Fellow chief executive Montgomery added: “Haig and I recognise the tremendous market opportunities for our enlarged business.

“We have been growing well from our Edinburgh base and this combination provides us with greater scale, whilst the flexibility of the 7IM platform allows us to enhance our service to clients and to support our employees.”