Scottish finance firm is £200m takeover target

Speirs & Jeffrey in sights of major firms

Wealth manager Rathbone Brothers has confirmed takeover talks with Scottish investment group Speirs & Jeffrey.

The group confirmed the potential £200 million tie-up to the stock exchange yesterday, but said no binding offer had been made and there was “no certainty” a deal would be done.

It said: “Rathbones regularly assesses various acquisition opportunities in line with its stated strategy and accordingly confirms that discussions between Rathbones and Speirs & Jeffrey in relation to a possible acquisition of Speirs & Jeffrey by Rathbones are taking place.”

London-based Rathbone revealed its interest following a weekend report which claimed private equity firm Permira was also weighing a bid for the Glasgow group.

Such a move would line up Rathbone and Permira for their second head-tohead battle in less than a year after they faced off over financial services group Smith & Williamson.

It is understood the sale of Speirs & Jeffrey could land its 10 partners a major cash windfall.

The company is led by chief executive Russell Crichton and its partners include two St Andrews University graduates, Tom Brown and Adam Drummond.

Andrew Waddell and his executive chairman brother Graham Waddell are also partners and are the third generation of the same family to serve within the company.

Shares in Rathbone closed up 40p at 2,414.00 yesterday.