Watrium invests in Vertus, a specialist capital provider to independent financial advisors (“IFAs”), together with Explore Equity.
Vertus consists of a strong team of professionals on a mission to support and enable a thriving independent financial advice sector in the UK. Explore Equity is an investment firm with a unique partnership approach that invests with owners who want to continue their ownership and are looking for a high value-add partner who can support them on their journey through the next phase of value-based growth.
Together, Watrium, Vertus and Explore Equity will establish the leading growth partner to UK IFAs. Vertus is uniquely positioned to address the unmet demand in the market for a partnership-based approach to high performing IFA businesses, not interested in traditional outright consolidation.
“We are excited to partner with Explore and Watrium who bring proven experience in growth through partnerships, solid understanding of and network within the asset management sector, and capital to the partnership. Together, we will make Vertus the preferred growth partner to leading IFAs, building the next generation of financial planning firms in the UK” says Matthew Marais, CEO and founder of Vertus.
“With Matt and his team, and Explore’s deep expertise and experience from partnership investing, we have really established a dream team for creating the leading growth partner for IFAs. The feedback from the IFAs have also been very positive and we look forward to an exciting journey ahead” comments Anders Christian Wilhelmsen, CIO of Watrium.
