Dyer Baade advised Ascot Lloyd on a multi-year acquisition programme

Helping Ascot Lloyd execute M&A at scale

Between approximately 2018 and 2022, Dyer Baade & Company worked closely with Ascot Lloyd during one of the most acquisition-intensive periods in the development of the UK financial advice market.

Ascot Lloyd was pursuing an ambitious strategy to build a scaled national wealth management and financial planning group through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions.

During this period, Dyer Baade acted as strategic buy-side adviser on approximately 20 acquisitions representing more than £4 billion of acquired assets under advice.

The mandate extended well beyond executing individual transactions. Dyer Baade worked with Ascot Lloyd across opportunity assessment, strategic fit, valuation, transaction structuring, shareholder engagement, commercial negotiations and execution - often across multiple acquisition opportunities in parallel.

This required a consistent framework for determining which businesses genuinely strengthened the platform, what they were worth and how transactions should be structured, while maintaining the pace required to execute a large-scale consolidation strategy.

The acquisition programme formed part of a broader period of significant growth for Ascot Lloyd. By 2022, the group was approaching £10 billion of funds under influence, with more than 20,000 core clients and over 500 employees across the UK.

When Nordic Capital acquired Ascot Lloyd from Oaktree Capital Management in 2022, it highlighted the group's proven ability to deliver both organic and inorganic growth as an important part of the investment case.

Executing an acquisition programme, not a series of isolated deals

Executing M&A at this scale requires a different advisory model from completing a single acquisition.

A consolidator needs a sufficiently broad pipeline of opportunities while remaining disciplined about which businesses genuinely improve the platform. Valuation frameworks need to remain consistent. Different shareholder objectives require different transaction structures. Multiple due diligence and negotiation processes may be running simultaneously.

Dyer Baade supported Ascot Lloyd across these issues over several years, helping management evaluate individual opportunities in the context of the group's wider strategic objectives.

The repeat nature of the relationship also meant that experience from earlier transactions could be applied to subsequent acquisitions - improving the speed of assessment while maintaining consistency around valuation, strategic fit, transaction structure and execution risk.

Client perspective

Nigel Stockton, then Chief Executive Officer of Ascot Lloyd, commented during the acquisition programme:

“We have worked with Dyer Baade on circa 20 M&A deals over the last few years. They are probably the leading M&A adviser in the mid-market space. Their industry knowledge and ability to find solutions to complex challenges is hard to match. I have no hesitation in recommending them to potential sellers and buyers.”

Matthew Moore, then Chief Financial Officer of Ascot Lloyd, said:

“I've worked with the Dyer Baade team on a number of transactions. They have always been very professional with the best client interests at heart. Their sector expertise is outstanding, and their advice is always very thought-through. It is a pleasure to work with Dyer Baade, and I would recommend them to anyone looking to appoint a first-class M&A adviser.”

Dr Daniel Baade, CEO of Dyer Baade & Company, said:

“What made our work with Ascot Lloyd unusual was not any individual acquisition, but the scale and consistency of the programme. Over several years, we helped the team assess a large number of opportunities and execute approximately 20 acquisitions representing more than £4 billion of assets under advice.

“A successful consolidation strategy is not about buying every business that becomes available. The real work is identifying which opportunities strengthen the platform, understanding what they are worth and maintaining transaction discipline while keeping multiple processes moving. That programme-level perspective was central to our role.”

Stuart Dyer, Chairman of Dyer Baade & Company, added:

“Executing an acquisition programme at this scale is very different from running a single transaction. At times, we were assessing or executing several opportunities in parallel, each involving different shareholders, valuation expectations, transaction structures and execution issues.

“Our role was to provide Ascot Lloyd's management team with additional capacity and judgement while maintaining a consistent framework around valuation, risk and strategic fit. Over time, the repeat nature of the relationship created significant efficiencies because we understood the strategy, the acquisition criteria and the issues that mattered most.”

From acquisitive consolidator to a leading national platform

Ascot Lloyd's acquisition programme contributed to a period of substantial growth in the scale and reach of the business.

By the end of 2021, Ascot Lloyd reported £9.8 billion of funds under influence, more than 20,000 core clients, over 130 financial advisers and more than 500 employees. By 2022, the group reported having executed more than 80 acquisitions as part of its wider consolidation strategy. Dyer Baade advised on approximately 20 of the larger acquisitions, representing more than £4 billion of AUA at the time those transactions were completed.

Dyer Baade-advised buy-side transactions represented more than £4 billion of AUA at the time those acquisitions were completed, making the programme a material component of Ascot Lloyd's wider inorganic growth strategy.

In April 2022, Nordic Capital agreed to acquire Ascot Lloyd from Oaktree Capital Management and Ares. Nordic described Ascot Lloyd as one of the UK's largest and fastest-growing independent financial advice firms and highlighted its track record of organic and inorganic growth. The acquisition completed later that year.

The ownership, leadership and strategic priorities of Ascot Lloyd have evolved since the core period of Dyer Baade's buy-side mandate. This case study relates principally to the earlier acquisition-led phase of the group's development.

Dyer Baade's role

Dyer Baade acted as strategic buy-side adviser to Ascot Lloyd across approximately 20 acquisitions with more than £4 billion of combined AUA.

Across the programme, Dyer Baade's work included strategic assessment and prioritisation of acquisition opportunities, valuation and financial analysis, transaction structuring, shareholder engagement, commercial negotiations, due diligence support and advice through signing and completion.

More importantly, Dyer Baade supported Ascot Lloyd at programme level - helping management maintain acquisition momentum while applying consistent strategic criteria and transaction discipline across a large number of opportunities.

The mandate demonstrates Dyer Baade's ability to support wealth management consolidators not only on individual acquisitions, but on the design and execution of sustained M&A programmes.

Experience on both sides of the table

Dyer Baade has also independently represented sellers in several transactions where Ascot Lloyd was the acquirer, incl. Central Investment Services → Ascot Lloyd, Whitechurch Securities → Ascot Lloyd, and Aberdeen Financial Planning → Ascot Lloyd. These mandates were separate from the historic Ascot Lloyd buy-side programme and are not included in the c.20 transaction or £4bn+ AUA figures.