Evelyn Partners poised for sale to NatWest Group
NatWest Group has agreed to acquire Evelyn Partners from funds advised by Permira and Warburg Pincus. The deal is set to take place for a £2.7 billion enterprise value, with Ardea Partners International, UBS, BofA Securities, Macfarlanes, and Carey Olsen among the advisors involved in the agreement.
Paul Geddes, CEO of Evelyn Partners, commented, “We are delighted to join NatWest Group, which marks an exciting new chapter for Evelyn Partners. We both have a long-standing history as highly regarded wealth managers with a client-centric culture. Together, we have the scale, resources, and shared vision to provide unparalleled service to our clients. We look forward to working together to build on our success and drive future growth.”
Evelyn Partners is a UK wealth manager with more than 180 years of heritage overseeing £69 billion of Assets Under Management and Administration (AUMA). Via a string of its own acquisitions – including deals for insolvency consultancy ReSolve, as well as regional offices of Haines Watts – Evelyn Partners has built up an integrated proposition spanning financial planning, discretionary investment management, and a direct-to-consumer platform in BestInvest.
The 270 financial planners and 325 investment managers combined in the firm have generated a compound annual growth rate in AUMA in excess of 7%, along with full year 2025 EBITDA of £179 million. By combining Evelyn Partners’ £69 billion of AUMA with NatWest Group’s £59 billion, the deal will bring that total AUMA to £127 billion, along with total customer assets and liabilities to £188 billion.
NatWest Group also intends to deliver revenue synergies through bringing Evelyn Partners’ leading financial planning and investment management solutions together with NatWest Group’s full suite of banking and wealth management solutions to our 20 million customers. This will also accelerate the delivery of NatWest Group’s strategy, further diversifying its income by increasing fee income beyond its traditional banking sector.
Paul Thwaite, CEO of NatWest Group, said, “Bringing together these two leading businesses creates a unique opportunity to provide financial planning, savings and investment services to more families and people across the UK. At a time when the benefits of saving and investing are increasingly part of the national conversation, we can help customers to make more of their money through a broader range of services, as well as helping to drive growth and investment across the economy.
The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the summer of 2026.
The deal was supported by professionals from Ardea Partners International and BofA Securities – who served as joint lead financial advisers to NatWest. Elsewhere UBS also acted as a financial adviser to NatWest.
On the sell side, Carey Olsen advised Evelyn Partners. The Carey Olsen team acted on the sale alongside Macfarlanes, and was led by corporate partners Tom Carey, David Taylor and Matt Brehaut, supported by senior associates Steven Khan and Vaishali Gupta and associates Damilola Obafemi and Jennifer Mills.
The Carey Olsen transaction team also comprised various additional specialists across Jersey and Guernsey, including regulatory partner William Grace, counsel Oliver Lindop and associate Thomas de la Cour; employment partner Huw Thomas and counsel Tarina Le Boutillier; property partner Will Whitehead and senior associate Lyndsey Houlette; and pensions counsel Julie Currie.
