Andrew Poxon, Alex Cadwallader and Hilary Pascoe of Leonard Curtis have been appointed joint special administrators and will try to find a buyer for the firm.

The FCA said: “The firm’s directors resolved to place the company into special administration and applied to court for an order to that effect.”

Blankstone Sington has operated since 1976, according to the company’s website, offering investment management, model portfolio services, inheritance tax services and stockbroking.

The firm also offered services relating to Sipps, estate administration, personal and trust taxation services and ISA advice.

It received FCA authorisation in 2001, according to the FCA’s register. It was authorised to do pension and investment work. It was also a member of the Stock Exchange.

On 16 November 2021, the FCA took temporary action to prevent BSL from disposing or diminishing the value of its own assets, accepting new client money or new custody assets from existing clients and from opening new client accounts, without the written consent of the regulator.

According to the administrators, Blankstone agreed to enter voluntary requirements in November 2021 because of the loss of several experienced staff who could not easily be replaced. It meant the firm couldn’t take on any new clients.

The directors subsequently tried to find a buyer for the company and received four offers. It entered into a three-month exclusivity agreement with one party to progress a sale earlier this year but that fell through in July.

In a statement Leonard Curtis said: “The Special Administrators consider that the quickest and most cost-effective way for client assets to be returned to clients is by way of a transfer to a single broker regulated by the FCA. An extensive marketing exercise has been undertaken by the company and a shortlist of several candidates has been identified.”

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme said: "FSCS will not be opening to customer claims right now, but we will be investigating whether there are any claims that are eligible for compensation, and how any claims might best be dealt with. As part of this investigation, we will be working closely with the Joint Special Administrators and the FCA."