Edinburgh-based Tweed Wealth Management looking north for further acquisitions after swooping on Highlands peer

Edinburgh-based Tweed Wealth Management has increased its presence outside the Central Belt by snapping up a Highlands financial advice practice – marking its fourth acquisition in recent years, and saying more in the region are set to follow.

The seven-figure takeover of Inverness-based John Home Wealth Management has helped bring total assets under management at Tweed Wealth Management to more than £380 million, the latter firm said.

As a result of the deal, all staff at the acquired firm and its founder John Home have joined the Tweed team and continue to be based in Inverness where further investments are planned to expand operations and headcount.

Chris Tweed, co-founder and chief executive of Tweed Wealth Management, said: “The acquisition helped us to meet our ambitious expansion plans north of the Central Belt.

From left: John Home and Chris Tweed, who have joined forces as a result of the deal. Picture: contributed.

“We see Inverness and the wider Highlands and Islands as offering huge growth potential for Tweed Wealth Management. While other firms may focus on only the Central Belt, we have always aspired to have national exposure across all of Scotland and view the Highlands and Islands as critical to our success.

“John and his team started from scratch and built up the firm as the leading practice in Inverness, so we had admired what they achieved for a long time. It was clear from my first meeting with John that both practices shared very similar values, with a strong focus on delivering high-quality financial planning while developing strong relationships with clients and their families through the generations.

“We see a very exciting future ahead, both for existing clients and in introducing a new wealth-management operation to the Inverness and Highlands area.”

Mr Home said: “Tweed brings a great deal of operational expertise and resource. They have provided us with the freedom to approach things the way we always have while adding resource and support where we have required it.

Exciting

“The growth plans for the region are exciting and I am personally looking forward to helping to develop a new generation of advisers.”

Mr Tweed, who set up his firm with wife Alison in 2014, said the aim was to create “a forward-thinking financial advice practice that supports families and business clients as well as providing a wealth of opportunity for talented people to work and achieve great things”.

The firm said the latest deal now means its has 21 staff, with ten financial advisers, six of whom are chartered. Clients of John Home will continue to be served by the Inverness team, with additional administrative and back-office support provided by the Tweed team based in Edinburgh’s Rutland Square. The business also has a presence in London.

Mr Tweed added: “We understand the importance of client-facing services, so it was fundamental that we maintain these. The local expertise and knowledge of John and his team are invaluable and will be essential to developing our adviser base in the region.

“We are actively looking at a number of other acquisitions in the region and expect a number of these to complete in 2022.”

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