Insurance giant Willis Towers Watson has acquired a stable in wealth manager Atomos as it looks to expand its presence in the UK wealth market.

The insurance specialist has had a partnership with Financial Planning-lead wealth manager Atomos since November 2022, with Willis Towers Watson (WTW) powering the “investment engine” behind Atomos’ multi-asset investment offering.

Atomos, which rebranded from Sanlam Wealth in 2022, is also backed by funds managed by private equity firm Oaktree Capital Management.

WTW said by taking a stake in the wealth manager would help it increase its presence in the ‘large and growing’ UK wealth space.

Mark Calnan, head of investments for Europe at Willis Towers Watson, said: “This is an incredibly exciting development for WTW which reinforces our commitment to the wealth markets, a strategic focus area for us and one that has driven significant growth for our business in recent years. Our investment in Atomos is the natural next step in our successful partnership and extends our investment capabilities to a wider audience.

“Our stake in Atomos enhances our ability to shape how the industry services the needs and aspirations of savers in the UK. This is particularly important as individuals take increased responsibilities for their retirement through defined contribution schemes and personal savings. It also enables us to bring our experience and capabilities built over many decades in occupational pensions to Atomos’ individual clients.”

Atomos said that the investment from WTW was a “further recognition of the health and growth potential” of the firm.

Jonathan Polin, CEO of Atomos, said that an investment from a large business would help bring new opportunities to clients.

He said: “As we look for more ways in which we can enhance the Atomos client experience, our closer alignment to such an established, well- resourced business will play a key part.”

Willis Towers Watson is a specialist insurance and risk broker and its investments business has over 1,000 clients and assets under advice of $£4.2trn (£3.2trn).

Atomos is a wealth manager providing a full Financial Planning service and bespoke portfolio management. Formerly part of Sanlam Wealth, the private-equity backed business is headed by CEO Jonathan Polin. The company manages £7bn in assets for 13,000 clients.

Earlier this year the wealth manager made changes to its leadership team to ‘help prepare and bolster the firm for its next stage of growth’.