Wealth manager St James’s Place has bought advisory and training support company Technical Connection, the business founded and run by joint managing directors Tony Wickenden and John Woolley, for an undisclosed sum.

Technical Connection provides technical support, insight, proposition development, business generation and the provision of continuing professional development (CPD) to financial advisers and institutions. It has provided support to many Financial Planning businesses and its founders are well known conference speakers.

Technical Connection is a ‘key supplier’ of technical resource to St James’s Place. St James Place says the acquisition strengthens its existing technical support capability through the addition of a skilled team of advisory professionals in addition to enhancing the group’s ability to provide business-focused technical support to its partners.

Technical Connection’s online knowledge management platform, Techlink Professional, will provide the foundation for further digital evolution of St James’s Place Partner support.

Tony Wickenden and John Woolley will remain with the business as joint managing directors, together with all of the Technical Connection technical staff and its consultancy team. The business will continue to operate from its existing premises in central London and will continue to deliver its services and support, including Techlink, to its existing adviser and institutional clients.

David Bellamy, chief executive, St. James’s Place, said: “We have worked with Technical Connection for many years and are very pleased they have agreed to become part of St. James’s Place. Technical Connection has gained a hard-earned reputation for excellence and innovation over many years in the financial services and wealth management sectors and we see it acting as a major provider of technical support to the partners and the financial adviser and institutional clients they already serve".

Tony Wickenden, joint managing director of Technical Connection, said: “This is an exciting development for the Technical Connection business and our valued and experienced staff. We look forward to supporting the evolution of technical support to partners and the wider business, through the provision of our technical expertise and experience.

“Being part of the St James’s Place Group will enable us to significantly grow our team of skilled technicians and expand our regional capability. We will deliver an increased level of technical support for St James’s Place and continue to serve our existing adviser and institutional clients through a carefully structured, recruitment plan and by smart deployment of online knowledge-based solutions.”

St James’s Place Wealth Management provides face-to-face advice to over 520,000 clients. It was founded in 1991and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1997. In March 2014, the company entered the FTSE-100 and currently has funds under management of circa £60 billion.