NatWest to buy wealth manager Evelyn Partners for £2.7bn
NatWest has agreed a £2,7bn deal to buy Evelyn Partners, one of the UK’s biggest wealth managers, in the bank’s largest acquisition since it was bailed out by taxpayers in 2008,The move signals an attempt to bolster the wealth management business for the banking group, which returned to full private ownership last year, and already owns the private bank Coutts,It makes NatWest the latest among the big four banks to push more forcefully into wealth management,Rivals including HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays have been working to lure more fee-paying affluent customers, ensuring lenders are less reliant on income from everyday loans that are linked to the rise and fall of interest rates.
NatWest beat the rival bidder Barclays to the takeover, according to Sky News, which first reported the deal, bringing about 2,400 Evelyn Partners employees under its wing.Evelyn Partners, formerly known as Tilney Smith & Williamson, controls about £69bn of client assets and offers financial planning and wealth management across the UK and Ireland.The NatWest Group chief executive, Paul Thwaite, told reporters on Monday that the deal was “transformative” for the bank, which will result in the private bank and wealth management division becoming a key “growth engine” and driving a 20% rise in the group’s overall revenues from fees.“So we see the quality and mix of our earnings, change quite considerably,” he added.Evelyn will help NatWest capture a market that falls between the millionaire clients served by its Coutts private banking division, and the premier banking segment of their retail bank, where clients need a minimum of £100,000 in income, savings or investments.
The London-based company had been seeking buyers after its private equity owners, Permira and Warburg Pincus, put it up for sale last summer.The group had already completed the sale of its professional services business to the buyout company Apax Partners last year.The company traces its roots back to 1836 when Thomas Tilney created his eponymous stock brokerage in the City of London.Tilney was bought by Permira in 2014, before acquiring the 145-year-old Glasgow-based investment company Smith & Williamson in 2019, and rebranding to its current name three years later.Thwaite said he had been impressed with Evelyn’s “loyal” and “UK-centric” customer base, which was served through 21 regional offices across the country.
However, Thwaite did not rule out job cuts, saying there “will be areas of duplication” that will require talks with staff,The deal is expected to be completed this summer,Thwaite has led NatWest since 2024, taking over from Alison Rose after a dispute over Nigel Farage’s Coutts bank account,He has prioritised growth in more lucrative businesses such as wealth management and private banking,Thwaite has previously said the bar for buying other companies is “very high”.
However, NatWest has already bought much of Sainsbury’s banking business and a £2.5bn residential mortgage book from Metro Bank since he took charge.He said on Monday that the deal was a “unique opportunity to provide financial planning, savings and investment services to more families and people across the UK”.NatWest returned to full private ownership last May, 17 years after its £45bn taxpayer rescue during the financial crisis, when it was known as Royal Bank of Scotland.NatWest Group’s privatisation came at a £10bn loss to taxpayers, as the state recouped only about £35bn of its costs because NatWest’s shares languished below the average 502p level paid in the bailout.
The Evelyn Partners chief executive, Paul Geddes, has been at the group since 2023.Before that he worked for RBS for 15 years, running its insurance arm, which included the Direct Line and Churchill brands.NatWest, which is poised to report its full-year results on Friday, also announced that it would give £750m to its shareholders via a share buyback.However, the bank’s share price fell nearly 6% on Monday, making it the biggest faller on the FTSE 100.“While expanding in wealth management is strategically logical, we remain cautious on the deal economics, which rely heavily on synergy delivery to justify the price,” said Gary Greenwood, an equity analyst at Shore Capital.
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