Foster Denovo: ‘It’s a slower acquisition pace, it’s very deliberate’

As acquisitions continue in the advice industry, one firm that has yet to make a deal this year is Foster Denovo.

While recently promoted Group Managing Director Helen Lovett says the firm is “always out there looking for the right one”, she adds: “We’re not in a situation where we need to buy something. That’s just not where we’re at . . . It’s a slower pace than some. It’s very deliberate.”

A national firm with 13 offices across the UK, Foster Denovo’s previous acquisitions have included firms in Scotland and the Midlands.

But despite a “healthy pipeline” of potential acquisitions, Lovett says Foster Denovo is currently placing “huge value on organic growth”.

“Of course the bigger opportunity [top line] is just to go and buy businesses. But we are very particular in the type of business that we want to buy. We’re not a consolidator, we’re a facilitator. “We integrate as soon as people join us through acquisition. So we’re not buying 50 a year. We’re buying one, two, three a year and bringing them in, training them in our processes, integrating them fully into our culture.

“It’s a much slower, more deliberate pace of growth.”

As a firm majority-owned by partners and staff, 80 per cent is in the hands of the founding leadership and its employees.

But Lovett says there is potential for this ownership stake to change. “I think as we grow, we’ll need to accept that we might have majority ownership externally. At some point in our future, that feels somehow inevitable.”

‘Employee benefits are never out of fashion with us’ Perhaps more likely known as a wealth manager, the firm also comprises an employee benefits consultancy by the name Secondsight.

Bolstered with an acquisition from Punter Southall in 2023, Lovett describes Foster Denovo’s employee benefits arm as “pretty even-footed” with the wealth management side, which is “slightly bigger” in terms of revenue.

“We don’t see one as more strategic than the other,” she says. “Having an employee benefits arm goes a little in and out of fashion.

“It’s currently back in fashion, so that’s great. It’s never out of fashion with us, I would hasten to add. But in the marketplace it’s either seen as a distraction or a benefit. We’ve always seen it as a massive benefit.”

You can also read the full press release on FT Adviser.

Foster Denovo Limited, is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered office: Foster Denovo Limited, Ruxley House, 2 Hamm Moor Lane, Surrey, KT15 2SA