Nucleus acquires London-based platform Third Financial

UK platform Nucleus has signed a deal to acquire London-headquartered Third Financial, a provider of white label investment platforms and software.

Nucleus says the acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, will increase Nucleus Assets Under Advice to around £90bn.

The acquisition will also give Nucleus the ability to offer ‘adviser-as-a-platform’ services, enabling adviser firms to offer their own white label platform, a fast-growing segment of the market.

The deal is is subject to regulatory approval.

Third Financial will continue to be led by existing chief executive Ian Partington.

Nucleus Financial Platforms currently has over £80bn of assets under administration for 250,000 customers.

Third Financial provides an investment platform and wealth management software. It serves discretionary wealth managers, multi-family offices and adviser consolidators.

It has over 50 clients in the UK with £6bn of assets under administration on its platform and a further £40bn of assets administered via its software system Tercero.

Richard Rowney, CEO of Nucleus, said: “We're delighted to announce the acquisition of Third Financial. By combining our scale, expertise and relationships, with their innovative technology, we’ll be able to offer a broader proposition to serve the needs of wealth managers and advisory businesses across the sector.

“We’ve long admired the team that Ian has built at Third Financial and what they’ve achieved. Their focus on innovation and client centricity has clearly differentiated their business, establishing them as one of the leading investment platform providers and they will be a great addition to our group.”

Ian Partington, Third Financial group CEO, said: “A crucial factor in the decision to join Nucleus is that we feel very culturally aligned. With our combined expertise and resource we can deliver even more to existing and future clients both in terms of products and service."