THE Newcastle-based corporate broking arm of wealth management firm Brewin Dolphin is to be sold to its senior staff and Spanish financial firm N+1.
The new venture, which is called N+1 Brewin, will be headquartered in Newcastle and staffed by 55 members of Brewin’s corporate advisory and broking division, including 25 in Newcastle.
London-based Brewin Dolphin, which currently employs around 300 people in Newcastle, says the sale will allow it to focus on its core business of wealth management, which accounts for 95% of annual revenues of £250m.
Brewin Dolphin receives £1m in cash from the deal, plus a 14% stake in N+1 Brewin with an estimated value of £4m. The deal is expected to be concluded in September. N+1 is investing £5m of capital and will own 51% of the new venture. Most of the 55 corporate broking staff are also taking a stake worth a total of 35%.
As well as Tyneside the corporate broking division has offices in London, Edinburgh and Leeds. The division mainly advises the small and middle market and has 90 corporate and 100 institutional clients.
It has raised more than £1.7bn for clients and worked on deals valued at £3.4bn over the last four years.
Major clients in the region include Newcastle-based software giant Sage, Newcastle-based retail bakers Greggs and Durham-based industrial services firm Hargreaves.
