A GLASGOW wealth manager that focuses on the entrepreneurial market has established a dedicated business advisory unit while setting its sights on growth by acquisition in the wealth management arena.

Murphy Wealth, which has been run by Adrian Murphy since he succeeded his father as managing director two years ago, has now been complemented with the addition of Murphy Advisory, with Mr Murphy serving as chief executive of the overarching Murphy Group.

Mr Murphy said the reason for the new launch is to engage with the wealth management arm’s clients “in a much richer way”.

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“If we’re able to help influence their business and get them to where they want to be quicker that’s interesting,” he said. “We want to help individuals and businesses be successful.”

Mr Murphy’s brother in law Damian Pike, who was previously in charge of business development at logistics specialist DHL, has been brought in to run the advisory arm, while financial advisor Neil Law has been promoted to managing director of the wealth business.

With Mr Murphy stepping away from the day to day running of the financial advisory part of the business, he said his focus now will be on building that segment of the Murphy Group by bolting on similarly sized firms.

“There’s a lot of consolidation going on in the wealth market and we are now having a lot of discussions about acquisitions,” he said.

“The acquisition space is largely dominated by the big consolidators while the majority of firms in the market are just like us. People that I know and speak to don’t want to sell out to a consolidator.

“There are guys running firms that are retiring in a few years and that’s a really interesting conversation because we can facilitate an exit for them and look after their clients.

“We’d love to be the largest independent in Glasgow; that’s our number one goal.”

The first target for the firm, which is on course to deliver turnover of £1.4 million in the 2018/19 year, is to increase the level of assets it manages for clients from £100m to £500m.

To begin with it is looking to take over a business with around £50-60m of assets under management, with Mr Murphy noting that “if we can do a couple of them then we can take a larger step forward”.

“If we can get to £200m quite quickly we’d look to do larger deals,” he added.

Discussions with potential targets are currently at an early stage, but Mr Murphy said the plan is to seal “at least two deals” during the course of 2019.

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Ultimately, the aim is to increase headcount at Murphy Wealth from 13 to 40 and achieve a turnover figure of around £6m within the next five years, while also providing clients with a long-term advisory partner.

“For me, the consolidator model [where large businesses buy up smaller players across the country] isn’t about the client, it’s about a future IPO,” Mr Murphy said.

“I’m only 37 so I’ll be here for a long time and we have the opportunity to do something quite different.”

Murphy Wealth was established by Mr Murphy’s father Brian in 1977 and until 2013 was based in Ayr. Since making the move to Glasgow the firm has invested heavily in technology with the aim of future proofing the business.