Moneyfarm has acquired investment platform Willis Owen, with the deal set to bring its managed portfolios to more than 160,000 clients in total.
In a statement announcing the deal the digital wealth firm said it is set to manage more than £5 billion in assets after the transaction is completed in early 2025.
This puts it on a more even footing with its chief rival Nutmeg, the UK’s biggest robo-adviser in terms of assets with around £5.6 billion, run on behalf of roughly 200,000 clients.
Willis Owen was founded in 1982 and offers a range of execution-only services including Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) and Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs). It manages around £680 million in assets.
Following the takeover, Willis Owen’s customers are set to have access to Moneyfarm’s range of managed portfolios, wealth management service, investment solutions and technologically advanced platform.
Portfolios on the platform are put together by investment managers rather than through a fully automated process as with some robo-advisers. Its proprietary technology fine-tunes investments to match each customer’s risk tolerance.
Last year Moneyfarm introduced thematic investing, allowing users to choose to allocate their money between several growth-oriented themes such as Technology, Sustainability, Society or a mix of all three.
Moneyfarm offers a free portfolio review service, relaunched last month, which allows investors to speak to an adviser to get a better understanding of their investments.
The latest Good Money Guide review of the platform found it to overall be a “great investment platform for a broad range of wealth and investing goals”.
The firm’s fees for a general investment account are tiered, starting at 0.70% to 0.45%, depending on whether active or passive management is chosen.
Moneyfarm co-founder and CEO Giovanni Daprà said: “This acquisition marks a significant milestone in our growth journey and reinforces our mission to make investing simple and accessible.
“Willis Owen’s strong reputation and dedication to its clients align closely with our hybrid model, which integrates expert guidance with advanced technology to meet the evolving needs of today’s investors.”
The acquisition is the firm’s third in three years, following its purchase of Profile Pensions in 2022 and Wealthsimple’s UK in 2021. Those deals brought the platform around £870 million and £270 million in assets, respectively.
According to its website, the UK-headquartered business currently has around 130,000 clients, around 12 years after it was founded by Dapra and fellow Italian banker Paolo Galvani.
Robin has more than six years of experience as a financial journalist, most of which were spent at Citywire, and covers the latest developments in the investing, trading and currency transfer space. Outside of work, he enjoys reading literature and philosophy and playing the piano.
You can contact Robin at robin@goodmoneyguide.com
