SLA’s 1825 in £30m talks to acquire Grant Thornton

1825, the national IFA owned by Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA), is reportedly in talks to acquire Grant Thornton’s wealth advisory business.

According to Sky News, 1825 has entered negotiations to acquire the business for around £30m. If a deal is agreed it would likely add 100 employees to 1825, including a handful of partners and roughly 30 individual financial advisers (IFAs).

Sky said that Grant Thornton is considering the sale in order to streamline its business and remove potential conflicts of interest. However, reports suggest some of the firm’s financial advisers are said to have expressed concerns that it could be broken up and redistributed among 1825’s regional offices.

The news comes as SLA recently announced it was scrapping its co-chief executive structure, with Keith Skeoch taking charge and Martin Gilbert moving to the role of vice-chairman.

Meanwhile Grant Thornton has recently come under scrutiny for its audit of Sports Direct and was also recently replaced by PwC as auditors of Gama Aviation.