EUROPE

UK WINNER:

Andrew Fisher CEO, Towry

About Andrew Fisher A ‘warchest’ for acquisitions

Andrew Fisher led the acquisition of Towry Law by John Scott & Partners which he joined as Chairman in August 2004, becoming executive chairman and chief executive in September 2005. Since then, under Andrew’s leadership, Towry has grown significantly to become one of the leading wealth advice businesses in the UK. Andrew has taken a prominent stance regarding reforms of the wealth advice industry from commission to fees, and to professional highly qualified advisers. His roles prior to joining Towry included group chief executive of Coutts Group and chief executive of Cox Insurance Holdings Plc, as well as a senior adviser to the Carlyle Group. Towry currently employs over 650 people in 18 offices, managing around £5 billion of discretionary client assets and providing wealth advice to 25,000 clients.

Towry results. • 2012 (announced April 2013): AUM £4.8bn, EBITDA £23.5m

• 2011: AUM £4.5bn, EBITDA £19.6m • 2010: AUM £4.2bn, EBITDA £16.1m • 2009: AUM £2.9bn, EBITDA £10.3m

Andrew Fisher CV Born Aldershot, 1961

Education BsocSci Economics, University of Birmingham

Career: 1982-87 – Unilever, marketing manager 1987-91 – Coopers & Lybrand/PWC, partner – Financial Services management consulting 1991-94 – Standard Chartered Bank, divisional sales and marketing director

1994-97 – Rangely, managing director and founding partner 1997-2000 – Coutts Group, commercial director 2000-2002 – Coutts Group, chief executive 2002 – Carlyle Group, senior adviser 2003-04 – Card Protection Plan group, chief executive 2004-05 – Cox Insurance Holdings, chief executive 2004-06 – John Scott & Partners, chairman and CEO 2006-present – Towry Law (Towry as of 2010), chief executive

34 Finance Monthly CeO AwArdS 2013

Non-Executive Positions held • NSPCC, corporate development board director

• The National Skills Academy for Financial Services, non-exec director

• Sandhurst School, governor

• Birmingham University - Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management (CHASM) , deputy chair

- Development Advisory Council (DAC), board director

At the start of 2013, Towry, along with their majority shareholder, Palamon Capital Partners, announced they had raised over £35 million of new equity to provide additional funding for the company’s expansion plans. This investment, provided primarily by AlpInvest Partners and Honeywell Capital Management, is in addition to £47.5 million of financing lines secured earlier in the year from Macquarie Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Towry has made 10 acquisitions since Palamon’s initial investment in 2003 and grown its assets under management from £250 million to the current £5 billion.

At the time of the funding deal, Andrew Fisher said: “We have exciting expansion plans as we see enormous opportunities arising from the RDR. The new capital raised gives us a solid base from which to execute our plans for further growth.”

Andrew and his team at Towry did not

take long to put the warchest to work. In March 2013, Towry announced that Norscot Financial Services would be joining its Glasgow office.

Regarding Towry’s future growth plans, Andrew commented: “We are actively seeking new acquisitions as well as new advisers. The Retail Distribution Review has already precipitated structural change within the sector, especially within the ‘old’ IFA community. The requirement to be properly capitalised and qualified has already resulted in an exodus of former advisers from this segment of the wealth management sector. Looking further ahead a combination of stagnant or falling revenues coupled with higher costs could make a number of other firms reconsider their position within the sector. We are well placed to take advantage of any further opportunities that materialise as a consequence.”