Expanding Financial Planner and wealth manager Fairstone has completed the acquisition of two Financial Planning firms and opened a new hub in Farnborough to support expansion in the South.

The North East-based Chartered Financial Planning-focused firm, which has made numerous acquisitions in recent years, says the deals will extend its reach across the South and add £318m of Funds Under Management and 1,250 new clients.

The two firms acquired are Grayside Financial Services in Epsom and Swindon-based Executive Wealth Management.

The firms were acquired using Fairstone’s ‘Downsteam Buy Out’ progressive acquisition process.

Fairstone says that over the past 12 months it has notched up a 'record' number of deals with 18 firms joining the Downstream Buy Out (DBO) programme across the UK and Ireland and eight full acquisitions completed.

The firm recently opened its sixth nationwide hub in Farnborough, bringing together a number of Fairstone’s South East offices. Fairstone says this is part of an “evolving  strategy” which will see Fairstone open offices in key locations across the UK within the next 12 months.

The strategy will see a move towards more operational functions at the hubs and the establishment of high quality working environments for colleagues located in the regions as well as improved settings for meeting clients.

Fairstone CEO, Lee Hartley said: “We already successfully operate five hubs across the UK, including a thriving City office in central London. In close proximity to Farnborough airport, the Aerospace Centre Business park was the perfect location for our next hub with its business gateway to London.”

Grayside Financial Services has over 50 years experience specialising in holistic investment and post-retirement advice. Executive Wealth is a full-service Financial Planning firm with a specialist commercial mortgage arm, Prospero Finance.

Mr Hartley added: “We’re delighted to welcome the Grayside and Executive Wealth teams into the Fairstone family. Both are client-focused, quality firms which have established an excellent reputation for providing first-class service over many decades. They’re a great fit for Fairstone.”

Executive Wealth principals James Relph and Martin Smedley said that the prospect of being part of a larger organisation and the potential to create further growth, were “deciding factors” in partnering with Fairstone.

Mike Seddon, principal at Grayside Financial Services, said the DBO model appealed to his firm.