S&W seeks IPO after Rathbone merger talks break down

Was preparing for stockmarket listing before Rathbone approach

Natalie Kenway
clock • 3 min read

Smith & Williamson is to prepare the firm for a potential stockmarket listing, after a statement from Rathbones said merger talks had been "terminated" as parties were unable to agree a transaction that would be in the best interest of shareholders.

After stockmarket closing yesterday, Rathbone released a statement revealing the £2bn merger talks had broken down "following very extensive due diligence and negotiations". It was first reported on 20 August the two firms were in exclusive talks about an all-share merger that would create an financial services firm with £56bn AUM. However, Rathbone's most recent statement said these talks had not been concluded, resulting in a non-underlying charge of approximately £5m in 2017 for expenses associated with the prospective transaction. The biggest wealth management stories of Q2 ...

To continue reading this article...

Join Investment Week for free

  • Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
  • Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
  • Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
  • Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
  • Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes

Join now

 

Already an Investment Week
member?

Login

More on Investment

Over a quarter of younger investors own crypto as overall optimism on the rise in July

Over a quarter of younger investors own crypto as overall optimism on the rise in July

Optimism up from May figures

Sorin Dojan
clock 23 July 2025 • 2 min read
Partner Podcast: What clients really want from their managers

Partner Podcast: What clients really want from their managers

Listen to the latest postcast with Honor Solomon, CEO for EMEA and Head of EMEA Retail Sales, at AllianceBernstein

Honor Solomon, CEO for EMEA and Head of EMEA Retail Sales, at AllianceBernstein
clock 22 July 2025 • 1 min read
Dimensional's Kaitlin Hendrix: Counting the cost of index rebalancing

Dimensional's Kaitlin Hendrix: Counting the cost of index rebalancing

Reconstitutions can hurt returns

Kaitlin Hendrix
clock 18 July 2025 • 4 min read
Trustpilot