Today Parmenion announces, subject to regulatory approval, the acquisition of Midlands based EBI Portfolios Ltd (ebi) for an undisclosed sum.
ebi manages evidence based, factor tilted, and ESG portfolios and currently administers £1.9bn on 19 platforms for over 150 advisory firms and nearly 7,000 underlying customers. Like Parmenion, their focus is on reducing cost and risk to adviser firms by doing the heavy lifting in investment. Parmenion Chief Commercial Officer Mike Morrow will join the ebi Board.
ebi Founder Craig Burgess commented:
“We first looked to align ebi with Parmenion ten years ago, so I’m delighted to be announcing this acquisition today. It’s a great opportunity for us to accelerate our growth and develop our business with the support of a well-capitalised parent. Parmenion understand the way advice, investment and technology fit together in practice and will support the continuous improvement of our online adviser tools, Turnkey and The Vault.”
Parmenion CEO Martin Jennings added:
“Since securing independence from SLA, we’ve been forging ahead with our ambition to become the adviser firm’s CIP provider of choice with new developments including data and MI reporting, Affinity for new investment partnerships, more high quality DFMs available on the platform and the announcement of our advisory model portfolio proposition, Adviser Models PRO. Welcoming ebi into the Parmenion group will bring significant opportunities for growth on both sides. We look forward to supporting Craig and his team as they go from strength to strength.”
Parmenion CCO Mike Morrow said:
“We have long admired ebi’s approach to investment solutions, harnessing leading-edge technology that aims to support advisers in achieving excellent outcomes for clients. ebi is a strong and profitable business, with AUM growing at 37% a year for the last five years. I am thrilled to be part the development of this exciting business, and I look forward to a bright future for ebi alongside Parmenion.”
Post-acquisition, ebi will continue to operate from its office in Aldridge under the ebi brand, with no changes to its investment offer or its service.
The acquisition is a key part of Parmenion’s ambitious growth strategy, which in the last year has seen it broaden its investment offering with the addition of a number of leading wealth managers. This year has also seen the platform expand its proposition to advisers with the forthcoming launch of Advisory Models PRO leveraging its proprietary portfolio management technology to support advisory models with more security and efficiency. 2022 has also seen Parmenion reinforce its reputation for outstanding service
Parmenion’s continued growth has been reflected in exceptionally strong financial results. In 2021, revenue climbed 20% following strong sales growth, AUM rose 17% to £9.6bn, and the group moved into strong profit against a challenging economic backdrop.
The acquisition of ebi will further support Parmenion in achieving its ambition of becoming the platform of choice for advisers running centralised investment propositions.