The rapidly expanding Embark Group has acquired Zurich’s platform arm for an undisclosed sum, pushing its assets under advice to £33bn.

Embark recently bought the advised and partnership assets of Alliance Trusts Savings.

As part of the latest deal, Embark will acquire Zurich’s Investment and Retail Platform business (Sterling ISA Managers Limited).

It will also acquire Zurich’s Authorised Corporate Director (ACD) and Investment Management business (Zurich Investment Services (UK) Limited).

Embark owns a number of financial businesses including Embark Pensions, the Embark Platform and Rowanmoor.

The transaction will add £11bn in assets and an advised book of more than130,000 clients to Embark.

Embark says it believes the deal will boost its engagement with advisers and increase Embark’s presence in the UK investment savings sector.

It will also help Embark to develop “retirement investment pathway solutions” and expand in the workplace and pensions and savings sectors in 2020.

At the same time, Embark and Zurich have also entered into a five-year partnership agreement to develop digital life and protection products through Embark’s distribution channels.

Phil Smith, Embark chief executive, said: “This acquisition is perfectly aligned to our growth strategy and duly establishes Embark as a significant player in the UK retirement and savings market. 

“The deal brings considerable assets, demonstrable distribution and investment capabilities, and most importantly one of the best teams in the industry to Embark. We are also excited by the potential of our new digital partnership with Zurich UK, and the future innovations we will bring to the market through it.”

Jim Sykes, Zurich UK’s head of UK Life, said: “Although our Wealth platform is a strong and successful business, we believe the needs of customers and advisers would be better served by an owner that is focused on investing in this specialist area.

“Embark is ideally placed to take the platform to the next stage in its development. In turn, this allows us to focus our resources on our protection business where we see the greatest growth opportunities. We are excited by our new retail protection partnership with Embark, which is a further signal of our intent in this market.”