Wealth manager and Financial Planning firm AFH has announced its 10th takeover in the past 12 months with the purchase of Sussex-based Financial Planner Harvey Curtis which has 1,300 clients.

Rapidly expanding AFH, founded by Chartered Financial Plannner Alan Hudson, says the deal will strengthen its position in the South East and add £80m to the group’s funds under management.

Nigel Poole and David Clark set up Harvey Curtis (their middle names) in 2000, after each notching up around 15 years in financial services.

Harvey Curtis grew partly through the team’s developing expertise in absorbing insolvent IFA practices and now has more than 1,300 clients across the South East and London.

Mr Poole explained: “With the departure of the banks, it’s become increasingly difficult to find young advisers, and with the ever-increasing regulation we felt we needed new blood to be able to continue to offer the best service to our clients.

“We met Alan (Hudson) and saw we had the same ethos of putting clients front and centre, so it made sense to join forces. Now our clients get the benefit of the incredible support the AFH back-office teams provide, and we can devote ourselves 100% to working with our clients to deliver what they want and need.”

AFH chief executive Alan Hudson said: “It’s great to welcome Nigel and David to the AFH family, sharing as they do our determination always to put customers first. Their joining adds to our capacity in the South East of England, where we see a lot of potential for growth.”

Harvey Curtis is the eighth expansion of 2018 for AFH, which also owns a £100m property portfolio that includes two retail parks, supermarkets, pubs and hotels.

AFH Financial Group was founded in 1990. It is based in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, and is a Financial Planning-led investment management company.