Well established business with c.£600m AUM and offices in Peterborough and Bishop’s Stortford

Titan Wealth Holdings [Titan Wealth] announces it has entered into a share purchase agreement to acquire [subject to shareholder and regulatory approval]  Ravenscroft‘s UK-based investment management business. Guernsey-based Ravenscroft is a well-established wealth management business. Its two offices in the UK have a combined AUM of £600m and provide discretionary, advisory and execution-only services to nearly 2,300 clients.

The acquisition takes Titan Wealth’s AUM to £9.4bn and reinforces our current capabilities and strengthens our fully integrated client to custody solutions and services.

Ravenscroft operates from two offices in England. The majority of clients are based in Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire and they will benefit from access to Titan Wealth’s wider group products and services.

The Peterborough office has grown organically through personal relationships and direct client recommendations. The investment proposition is largely bespoke, investing predominantly in funds and with some equities. The Bishop’s Stortford office investment proposition is primarily based on “model-style” portfolios. The teams from both offices will move across to Titan Wealth.

Andrew Fearon, Joint CEO & Head of M&A at Titan said: ‘Ravenscroft is a well-run business possessing a high-quality, loyal client base. The business will integrate with our network, enabling greater distribution of the investment and advisory offering that form part of our client to custody solutions and services.’

Jon Ravenscroft, Group CEO of Ravenscroft, said: ‘Titan has acquired a number of asset management firms in accordance with its growth strategy and we have spent a considerable amount of time ensuring they were the correct fit. Titan has the same ‘client first’ ethos and I’m confident that this development is the right move for both our UK teams and their clients. It will also allow Ravenscroft to focus on the offshore market – which we know extremely well – where the large majority of our clients, shareholders and staff remain. We would like to thank M&A specialist Dyer Baade & Company for their assistance in this transaction’

This International Women’s Day we decided to do something a little different. When it comes to Environmental, Social, and Governance and sustainable investment, there is a hidden demographic that most investment decisions do not consider. This week we dive deeper into our Sustainable investment portfolio policies to see how our investment policies, screening practices, and choices impact women in communities where our investments have a real effect. Achieving milestones such as UN Sustainable Development Goals in our sector requires an intersectional feminist view, protecting women on the ground who are being directly impacted by our allocations and decisions. By looking at an investable organisation’s means of production, board and funding decisions, and internal policies we can assess whether it particularly negatively impacts women on a Social and Governance level.

So then – how can this apply to women globally? Women are particularly at risk of falling foul to Modern Slavery due to pre-existing marginalisation, poverty, and social norms.[i] The Modern Slavery document cites the business sector as needing to play a stronger and ‘more systemic’ role in removing the main key factors which drive the slavery market. 70% of the 40.3 million people in modern slavery are women and girls; and investment into companies with non-disclosed supply chains, unregulated resourcing and non-transparent human and worker rights is contributing to the international suffering of women and girls.[ii]

Our Sustainability lead, James Peel, writes below explaining how our policies for our Sustainability portfolio are designed to curb these, and ultimately how our sector has much further to go.

Investing for Women

The systemic lack of gender equality in the business and investment community has been a problem for a long time. Although a gender gap – the difference between women and men as reflected in social, political, intellectual, cultural, or economic attainments or attitudes, according to the World Economic Forum – still persists, there is good reason to believe that it will start to close meaningfully in the future. This is because there is an increasing understanding of the myriad benefits that come with efforts to improve equality. For example, the UN Principles of Responsible Investment notes that more diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at a company can positively affect decision-making, employee engagement, reputation amongst stakeholders, innovation and access to new markets. The organisation also warns of the risks of not prioritising DEI in the workplace.

For most investment product providers, the E in ESG has historically been the primary focus of attention. This bias is reflected in the make-up of our investable universe, which includes plenty of products that consider environmental concepts like climate change but far fewer that consider social concepts like equality or, more specifically, things like women’s health. However, that doesn’t mean that integrating social considerations into the investment process is unfeasible, especially as the quantity and quality of relevant non-financial data continues to improve.

Our sustainable investment policy demands that the strategies within our investment proposition governed by this policy achieve an MSCI ESG Rating of AA, which corresponds to a classification of Leader. This means that our exposure to and management of equality-relevant issues like labour management, human capital development and corporate governance is optimal. More, by excluding companies in violation of the UN Global Impact from our investable universe, we ensure that we have no exposure to companies flagged for breaching the 6^th of the Ten Principles of the Global Impact, which states that “businesses should uphold the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation”.

With the help of one of our new data providers, Util, we are now also able to measure whether the actions of companies held across our sustainability-labelled proposition are generating any positive or negative outcomes in the real world. To do so, Util uses natural language processing to assess how companies affect the UN Sustainable Development Goals (including SDG 5, Gender Equality), which can be further broken down into thousands of other sustainability concepts.

There remains a long way to go to close the gender gap, but the reasons to prioritise doing so are clear. Helpfully, relevant non-financial data is better than it used to be, making it easier to shift capital allocation towards solving this important global challenge.

International Women’s Day

For instance, when investing in the healthcare sector in an ESG portfolio, there are an increasing number of factors to assess from a Social and Governance angle. Healthcare, particularly in the United States, suffers from a large medical research bias, heavily favouring men.[iii] Papers from medical educational institutions are revealing that the industry shows a consistent pattern for favouring male pharma, and funding pharmaceuticals for men, this study reveals that while Viagra was approved 6 months after being submitted to the FDA for approval, it took 17 years for the contraceptive pill.[iv] So then, when investing in healthcare we should be looking at the board’s budget allocation, questioning if it allocates enough to female pharma such as menopause research, questioning if the research is also conducted on female trial subjects. The above study highlights that there is even a gender discrimination between what medical insurers will cover, most insurers will cover a prescription for Viagra but not the contraceptive pill.[v] Should one wish to invest in the healthcare insurance sector in an ESG portfolio, it’s worth considering if there is gender discrimination in the company from a granular level up to a systemic, discriminatory policy-making level. If one is holding healthcare stock in an ESG portfolio which allocates the majority of its funding to men’s pharma, tests drugs on mixed sex subjects, and allocates healthcare policy based on systemic gender or sex challenges, then it may not really meet your ESG’s ‘Social’ criteria at all.

Women then are placed between a rock and a hard place when facing our industry, CityWire reported in 2021 that only 11.8% of portfolio managers were women – and that this was an improvement on last year.[vi] So not only are women typically absent from the investment decision-making process, but the industry is relying on the overwhelming amount of men in the decision-making position to consider the factors that affect this demographic, hidden away in the overlooked Social and Governance part of ESG.

Women are a hidden demographic in ESG, and by investing in organisations which comply with the UN Sustainable Development goals and the like, comes better reassurance that women are not disproportionately affected by our investment decisions. While we have much further to go with representation and policies to protect and empower, there is much, much more work to be done.

https://www.msci.com/our-solutions/esg-investing/esg-ratings/esg-ratings-key-issue-framework

https://unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/mission/principles

https://www.unpri.org/human-rights/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-key-action-areas-for-investors/9393.article

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[i]https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/726283/modern-slavery-womens-economic-empowerment.pdf

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16040176/, https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1204&context=jlh

[iv] https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1204&context=jlh

[v] Ibid.

[vi] https://citywire.com/americas/news/alpha-female-2021-just-11-8-of-portfolio-managers-are-women-and-that-s-an-improvement/a1553798

Titan Wealth Holdings Limited and LEBC/Aspira announces a new strategic partnership. The partnership will result in Titan Asset Management Limited, part of Titan Wealth Holdings, developing the investment proposition and managing the LEBC/Aspira Model Portfolio Service investments. 

Established in 2000, LEBC/Aspira Group has become a driving force within the independent financial advisory and employee benefits sector. Based in Bristol, the group has Financial Planners and Corporate Consultants across the UK.

Titan Asset Management has significant experience managing funds and MPS, so this partnership will enhance LEBC’s offering to clients and further elevate Titan Asset Management’s position in the market.

John Leiper, CIO of Titan Asset Management said: “LEBC/Aspira is an outstanding firm, which has been evident since our first meeting and this strategic partnership aligns with Titan Asset Management’s growth ambitions. We are excited to bring our unique investment proposition, and strong track record, to the group and the opportunities that will be created. We look forward to working closely alongside Derek, Todd and the team at LEBC/Aspira, supporting them on their journey.”

Derek Miles, CEO of LEBC/Aspira said “We are delighted to have entered into this strategic partnership with Titan Asset Management to enhance the investment solutions we can offer our clients”. 

Todd Rowlands, Group Director of Distribution at LEBC/Aspira said “We are excited to announce our strategic partnership with Titan Asset Management. We have an aligned vision of an innovative and integrated approach to asset management and this partnership is part of our journey to further enhance and improve our client proposition. The partnership brings with it some exciting opportunities which we are working closely together to develop. We look forward to sharing more about this in the future”.

Titan Asset Management is pleased to announce it has entered into a partnership agreement with Maplesden Griffin & Partners.

Maplesden Griffin & Partners is a leading consultancy that works with discretionary fund managers to help firms simplify and reduce the burden of the investment process. With locations in both the British Isles and the UAE, Maplesden Griffin & Partners has the scope and scale to support clients over multiple locations.

As part of the partnership, Titan Asset Management will work alongside Maplesden Griffin & Partners to create a new model portfolio strategy for the international market.

Titan Asset Management will provide access to model portfolios, which are run by CIO John Leiper and the investment team, and available across international platforms and wrappers. Advisers will also be able to access other areas of Titan’s wide expertise including DFM, direct equity strategies and alternatives.

John Leiper CIO of Titan Asset Management said: “Maplesden Griffin & Partners is an impressive firm, which has been evident since our first meeting. The partnership moves Titan into new markets which aligns with our strategic ambitions. We are excited to bring the unique Titan offering to the international market, and work alongside the team at Maplesden Griffin & Partners, supporting them on their journey.”

Tom Macpherson, Head of Portfolio Management, who recently joined Titan from LGT Vestra, where he ran the MPS strategies, reiterated John’s comments and added that this was the first phase of the Titan Groups expansion into the international adviser and private clients markets.

Mark Maplesden: “From the outset it has always been our intention to work with a panel of DFMs, but it was important to choose the right partners. We wanted to ensure their proposition differed from what we already had, but also complimented our existing offerings. Our partners are delighted to now welcome Titan to be a part of Maplesden Griffin & Partners and recognize how a panel approach will help to continue to drive the change we all know is needed in the expat space to ensure the underlying clients’ best interests are served.”

Nick Griffin: “Our two businesses were introduced by a former colleague of both myself and Mark and the conversations have been so positive from the outset and we cannot wait to start working with all of those at Titan. Like ourselves, Titan is an entrepreneurial business with extensive experience in the advisor space, and they are keen to work with us to now offer their expertise to the expat markets.”

We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Goldsborough Wealth, a boutique IFA with a concentrated client base of ultra and high-net-worth individuals, owner managed businesses and trustees with £40m AUA.  Founded in 2019 by Phil and Liz Jacobs, Goldsborough Wealth provides a bespoke wealth management service which caters for its clients complex financial planning and investment needs.

The acquisition of Goldsborough marks another moment in Titan Wealth’s journey to build a vertically integrated, national wealth management group, and to provide better integration and flexibility to investment managers, IFAs and clients.

James Kaberry and Andrew Fearon, joint-CEOs of Titan Wealth said:

Goldsborough Wealth is a sound strategic fit for the Group that will both complement and enhance our overall offering for clients.  When regulated advice is required it will be able to assist any of our individual clients and trustees to access Titan’s services where it is appropriate to do so.

Phil Jacobs, Co-Founding Director of Goldsborough Wealth said:

We are pleased to join the Titan Group and look forward to harnessing the additional range of services and support on behalf of our clients and those introduced within the Titan Group.