The three firms are HCF Partnership and Essex Financial Management Ltd, based in Radlett, Hertfordshire, Grosvenor Consultancy and Prosperity IFA.

Based in Radlett, Hertfordshire, HCF Partnership and Essex Financial Management have been in business since 1982. HCF provides a range of services to help clients navigate their financial life, from owning a property, through to managing their wealth and health.

“HCF’s goal is to provide its services to as many clients are possible with the financial and operational support of Söderberg & Partners”, the statement said.

Grosvenor Consultancy, a regional IFA based in Bristol and Swindon, has around £650m of client assets under management, with 16 advisers and 19 support staff. Grosvenor Consultancy “prides itself on strong retention of both clients and advisers”, the statement said.

Prosperity IFA, a Crowborough-based firm founded in 2012 by Simon Munday, manages around £130m of client money.

“An associate member of the Personal Finance Society, the firm takes pride in the great service it delivers to clients in the South East. Prosperity IFA builds lasting relationships with its clients to help them achieve their financial goals”, the statement said.

Gustaf Rentzhog, chief executive officer at Söderberg & Partners, commented: “Our strategy as we launched into the UK market has always been to invest in the best advice businesses we can find and help them move to the next level. With the resources and technology of a larger firm behind them, we are seeing the IFAs in which we invest develop their client offering and expand their regional businesses. We are delighted to be able to announce Söderberg & Partners has taken stakes in three more advice businesses, and we look forward to helping them scale up and improve efficiencies in future.”

Kevin Simmons, managing director of HCF Partnership Ltd and Essex Financial Management Ltd, said: “We are very excited to have found a company in Söderberg & Partners that shares our values and wants to support our growth as well as enhancing our capabilities.”

Ben Olson, managing director of Grosvenor Consultancy, said: “We have been very impressed with all the staff members we have met from Söderberg & Partners. We are excited about starting our journey to improve our service to clients and streamline our processes. We are very confident that Söderberg & Partners will deliver on their technology development.”

Simon Munday, founder and managing director of Prosperity IFA, added: “We have been so impressed with Söderberg & Partners since they first made contact with us in 2023. Unlike consolidators, they were keen to partner with us and help us grow, all the while building efficiencies into our processes and helping us drive down costs to clients.

“We are thrilled to have Söderberg as a partner and look forward to working with them and continuing to improve our client proposition and journey. We will be at the forefront of financial planning moving forwards adopting new technology and services and integrating them into our processes to enable us to deliver to more clients as we grow across the region.”

In April, Söderberg & Partners announced it had made investments in four IFA firms: Courtney Havers; Bespoke-Advice Ltd; Clear Financial Advice; and Bigmore Associates.

Earlier this year the group revealed plans to buy a significant minority stake in Bath-based advisory firm Fidelius for an undisclosed sum, as well as investing in London wealth manager Vintage and Croydon-based PK Financial.

Last year the firm took minority stakes in Timothy James & Partners; Dartington Wealth Management; Generation Financial Services and Atherton York. These marked Söderberg’s first major investments in the UK as part of its strategy to invest in advice firms and support their growth.

Subject to FCA approval, the acquisition is the Swedish firm’s seventh investment in the UK market and while the deal was for an undisclosed sum it has been described as one of its biggest to date.

Fidelius, which was launched in 1998 and has offices across Bath, Cheltenham, Chelmsford, London and Mansfield, offers advisory services, including wealth management, employee benefits, mortgages and a specialism in advice to returning expats.

See also: Söderberg & Partners makes further IFA purchases

“Fidelius is a business with significant upside potential,” said Gustaf Rentzhog, chief executive officer at Söderberg & Partners. “With a strong brand and an exceptionally experienced management team, I have no doubt that this already successful and growth-oriented business will go from strength to strength.”

Jim Grant, CEO of Fidelius, said: “It can be hard for financial planning firms to raise quality investment to allow for growth, but with Söderberg we can help make this a reality.”

He added: “With a strong brand and an exceptionally experienced management team, I have no doubt that this already successful and growth-oriented business will go from strength to strength.”

Following its investment into London-based Generation Financial Services last month, the firm has become a shareholder in the London wealth manager Vintage and the Croydon-based IFA PK Financial.

Vintage is a London-based group of financial services businesses that offer full advice to both the corporate and personal market. With over £1.1bn in funds under management (FUM), this group of companies includes wealth management and the stake was acquired for an undisclosed sum.

PK Financial offers independent professional advice to companies and individuals representing £150m FUM.

See also: Söderberg & Partners makes fourth IFA purchase

“As we scour the marketplace looking for the best small firms out there, we have seen some standout businesses delivering great outcomes to their clients,” said Gustaf Rentzhog, group chief executive at Söderberg & Partners.

“In Vintage we see a scalable platform with strong infrastructure and a fast-growing professional network, while PK Financial has exceptional levels of client service which we think will serve it well for the future,” he added. “As the advice profession faces greater overheads and administrative burdens, we are proud to be able to support these businesses to focus on what they do best – building client relationships.”

Generation Financial Services incorporates the trading styles of Generation Wealth Management, Generation Employee Benefits and Generation Charity Consultancy.

All existing Generation directors, management, consultants and support staff will remain in place.
With the only difference being the addition of an extra functionality for the firm in the way it delivers client advice and supports services.

To read more on this topic, visit: Söderberg & Partners launches adviser platform to UK market

Gustaf Rentzhog, group chief executive at Söderberg & Partners, said: “The advice profession comes with increasing operational costs and regulatory requirements. We are pleased to be able to offer support to a smaller firm in this regard, as well as with managerial and back-office activities, so Generation can reach its full potential.

“This is the latest step in our growth strategy, which has seen us take stakes in three other IFA firms as we seek to make our mark in the dynamic UK marketplace.”

The group had acquired a majority stake in Timothy James & Partners, and minority stakes in Cambridge-based Dartington Wealth Management and London-based Atherton York.

In a joint statement today Novia Global and Söderberg & Partners announced that Vasilieff had passed on 19 November suddenly and peacefully surrounded by his family.

They said: “Bill was a true innovator and pioneer in the financial services sector whose impact and influence were widespread. His meticulous work ethic spanned many decades across multiple industries.”

Vasilieff stepped back from his role at Novia in 2021 but came out of retirement this year to become chairman of the UK arm of Swedish wealth manager Söderberg & Partners.

He was a proud Scotsman and a lifelong Bath Rugby supporter and raised considerable sums for the Bath Rugby Foundation.

Vasilieff is survived by his wife, son and daughter who have asked for privacy at this time.

Tributes have started to flood in on social media for the industry legend.

Mark Polson, chief executive and founder at the lang cat, posted on Linkedin saying: “Very sad to hear the news about Bill Vasilieff’s death at the weekend. A true original gone far too young.”

While another user commented: “A great man with such vision and knowledge for the industry but also someone who was always willing to share time for others. A great loss.”

Adviser platform Wealthtime also took to the website to express its condolences.

It said: “Bill paved the way for the platforms of today and he put his heart and soul into Novia, building it into an extraordinary business, for which we owe him a huge debt of gratitude. We know he will be missed greatly by all in this sector.

“In addition to his business achievements, he was, simply put, a wonderful man and will be greatly missed.”

Details of a memorial service are set to follow in due course.