Fairstone has fully acquired Lincolnshire-based Zimb Johnson Bespoke Financial Planning.

It is Fairstone’s second such deal of 2018 and brings in total fee income of £850,000 and funds under management of almost £200m. Four staff will join Fairstone.

In announcing the deal, the company stated that it “anticipates acquiring a further eight firms” through its downstream buy out (DBO) model over the course of 2018.

Fairstone acquired 10 partner firms within its acquisition programme over the past 12 months.

Zimb Johnson was founded in 1999 and specialises in providing client-focussed wealth management services to individuals and owner-managers of private companies, as well as advice to trustees, family offices and charities.

The firm first joined Fairstone in 2015 as part of its downstream buy out (DBO) model.

Fairstone said it makes a “fundamental commitment” that that acquired firms will “never be forced to increase client charging or reduce client choice in order to offset the costs of the transaction.”

Leigh Johnson, company principal at Zimb Johnson Bespoke Financial Planning, said: “It became clear that increased regulation, compliance and reporting could restrict the time we might otherwise spend with our clients. Through working with Fairstone, we were offered significant support in these areas, combined with state-of-the-art technology and back-office systems.

“This merger is extremely exciting for us and Fairstone’s financial resources will allow us to develop the business and continue to provide high-quality and dedicated advisory services to our clients.”

Lee Hartley, CEO of Fairstone Group, said: “Bringing such a well-respected business into Fairstone marks an outstanding start to the year and underlines our intent to partner with high-quality firms who share our culture and are determined to grow, with our support. Having made a number of successful acquisitions in 2017 and greatly expanded our DBO programme we look forward to another successful year in 2018.

“Partner firms tell us time and again that early integration makes an enormous difference not just to the business, but also to their clients. The DBO programme ensures that this process takes place before the point of sale, meaning our partners are already enjoying the benefits of our commercial, legal, compliance and customer acquisition support long before the completion of the DBO process.”